Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method for the determination of alpha-methyltyrosine in human plasma

J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2004 Oct 25;810(2):229-34. doi: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2004.08.004.

Abstract

A sensitive and selective LC-MS-MS method for the isolation and quantification of alpha-methyltyrosine (AMT) from human plasma is described. The method employs a simple protein precipitation using zinc sulfate and sodium hydroxide. This precipitation procedure produced samples with high aqueous content that could be directly injected into a LC-MS-MS system without compromising reverse-phase chromatographic performance. Chromatographic separation was performed on a MetaChem MonoChrom C(18) column (2.0 mm x 50 mm; 5 microm) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Compounds were eluted using a gradient mixture of water-acetic acid (100:0.1, v/v) and acetonitrile-acetic acid (100:0.1, v/v). The structural analog alpha-hydroxymethyltyrosine was used as the internal standard. Mass spectrometric detection was carried out with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The method was validated and used to determine human plasma AMT concentrations, and has been implemented to derive pharmacokinetic parameters.

MeSH terms

  • Area Under Curve
  • Calibration
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / blood*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacokinetics
  • Half-Life
  • Humans
  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Male
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Quality Control
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Solvents
  • Specimen Handling
  • alpha-Methyltyrosine / blood*
  • alpha-Methyltyrosine / pharmacokinetics

Substances

  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Solvents
  • alpha-Methyltyrosine