Determination of a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ agonist, 1-(trans-methylimino-N-oxy)-6-(2-morpholinoethoxy-3-phenyl-1H-indene-2-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (KR-62980) in rat plasma by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

A novel peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonist, KR-62980, was determined by liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) in rat plasma. In order to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of KR-62980, a reliable, selective and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the quantification of KR-62980 in rat plasma. KR-62980 and imipramine (IS) were separated on Hypersil GOLD C18 column with a mixture of acetonitrile–ammonium formate (10 mM) (80:20, v/v) as mobile phase. The ion transitions monitored were m/z 437.2 → 114.2 for KR-62980, m/z 281.3 → 86.1 for imipramine in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The percent recoveries of KR-62980 and imipramine were 90.1 and 98.4% from rat plasma, respectively. The linear dynamic range extended from 0.01 to 10 μg/ml with a correlation coefficient (R2) greater than 0.99 and the lower limit of quantification was 0.01 μg/ml. The mean of intra- and inter-assay precisions was 2.1 and 9.3%. The method was validated and successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of KR-62980 in rat.