Simultaneous determination of methylephedrine and noscapine in human plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A selective and sensitive method has been developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of methylephedrine and noscapine in human plasma. Analytes were extracted from human plasma samples by liquid-liquid extraction, separated on a Diamonsil C18 column and detected by tandem mass spectrometer with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) interface. Diphenhydramine was used as the internal standard (I.S.). The method was found to be precise and accurate within the linear range 0.1-100 ng/ml for each analyte. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) were below 5.2% for methylephedrine and 6.7% for noscapine. The inter-day relative error (RE) as determined from quality control samples (QCs) was less than 3.0% for each analyte. The assay was successfully employed in a pharmacokinetic study after an oral administration of a multicomponent formulation containing 20 mg dl-methylephedrine hydrochloride, 16 mg noscapine, 300 mg paracetamol and 1 mg of chlorpheniramine maleate.