Pattarawit Rukthong, Polkit Sangvanich, Sarunyaporn Kitchaiya, Ekarat Jantratid and Korbtham Sathirakul

pp. 41 - 50

Abstract

Determination of atorvastatin in human plasma using LC-MS/MS has been widely accepted as an effective method
owing to its practical applicability in routine drug analysis in pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic study. Nevertheless, the
method sensitivity can be compromised when limited sample volume is available. This problem is typically encountered in
pharmacokinetics studies for which only a small volume of plasma sample can be obtained. Drug extraction from human
plasma was performed with the aid of reversed-phase C18 solid phase micro-extraction. The detection was accomplished by
LC-MS/MS. The need of plasma volume of less than 250 µl for each sample made it possible to decrease the sample preparation time. The method was successfully validated and proved appropriate for the analysis of atorvastatin in human plasma
and can be applied to pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics study. 

Keywords

• atorvastatin
• LC-MS/MS
• plasma
• solid phase micro-extraction
• pharmacokinetics