Simultaneous determination of albendazole metabolites, praziquantel and its metabolite in plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometry

The analysis of albendazole sulfoxide, albendazole sulfone, praziquantel and trans-4-hydroxypraziquantel in plasma was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry ((LC–MS–MS). The plasma samples were prepared by liquid–liquid extraction using dichloromethane as extracting solvent. The partial HPLC resolution of drug and metabolites was obtained using a cyanopropyl column and a mobile phase consisting of methanol:water (3:7, v/v) plus 0.5% of acetic acid, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Multi reaction monitoring detection was performed by electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode, conferring additional selectivity to the method. Method validation showed relative standard deviation (precision) and relative errors (accuracy) lower than 15% for all analytes evaluated. The quantification limit was 5 ng/mL and the linear range was 5–2500 ng/mL for all analytes. The method was used for the determination of drug and metabolites in swine plasma samples and proved to be suitable for pharmacokinetic studies.