Aim: To improve a gas chromatography/electron impact ionization mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for determining the concentration of procaterol in human plasma.
Methods: GC/MS was developed with capillary column. Samples were extracted by liquid phase before derivated. Imipramine was used as an internal standard. The injector and GC/MS interface temperatures were set at 280 degrees C and 250 degrees C, respectively. The carrier gas (helium) was 0.8 mL.min-1, and injections were made in the pulse-splitless mode. The MS source and MS Quad temperature were 230 degrees C and 150 degrees C, respectively.
Results: The detection limit of plasma procaterol was 5 ng.L-1. The assay was linear over the range of 10-10,000 ng.L-1 with correlation coefficient of 0.9987. The coefficients of variation were less than 10% for procaterol detection at high, medium and low concentration levels (n = 5). The average recovery of the assay was 99.1% +/- 1.3%.
Conclusion: This assay was sensitive, precise, and accurate for evaluating the clinical pharmacokinetics of procaterol.