Design and validation of an automated solid phase extraction liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry method for the quantification of propofol in plasma

Propofol concentration in human plasma can be quantified by liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry. Sample preparation usually requires solid phase extraction to remove matrix components and enrich the analyte. To facilitate user-independent measurements and speed extraction, we developed and validated a fully automated high throughput in-line sample preparation system with direct injection into liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry. We assessed linearity of each method over the clinically relevant concentration range from 0.5 μg/mL to 8 μg/mL plasma concentration. R2 values were 0.99 for the automated process and 0.98 for manual sample preparation. The limit of detection was 6 ng/mL and the lower limit of quantification was 18 ng/mL for the automated method; for the manual process, the limit of detection was 1.58 ng/mL and the lower limit of quantification was 4.79 ng/mL. Intra-day precision for low, medium and high concentration range of the automated method was validated 4.14%, 9.68% and 3.04% relative standard deviation and 0.29%, 0.12% and 0.52% for the manual process. Carry over was 0.4% with the automated method, whereas there was no carry over with the manual method. Stability of plasma samples was tested with the manual method at concentrations of 1, 4, and 6 μg/mL propofol and found to be stable over 150 days at −20 °C. The manual sample preparation method has successfully been transferred to a fully automated process with appropriate sensitivity and precision but the automatization failed with regard to trueness and working time due to lengthy sample preparation runtime. Therefore it is not suitable for daily use in a hospital laboratory e.g. for brain death diagnosis in the intensive care unit.