Quantitation of nitrofurantoin in human plasma by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Acta Pharm. 2013 Jun;63(2):141-58. doi: 10.2478/acph-2013-0012.

Abstract

A reliable, selective and sensitive LC-MS/MS assay has been proposed for the determination of nitrofurantoin in human plasma. The analyte and nitrofurazone were extracted from 100 μL of human plasma via SPE on Strata-X 33 μm extraction cartridges. Chromatography was done on a BDS Hypersil C18 (100 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column under isocratic conditions. Quantitation was done using the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode for deprotonated precursor to product ion transitions of nitrofurantoin (m/z 237.0 → 151.8) and nitrofurazone (m/z 197.0 → 123.9). The limit of detection and the lowest limit of quantitation of the method were 0.25 ng mL-1 and 5.00 ng mL-1, respectively, with a linear dynamic range of 5.00-1500 ng mL-1 for nitrofurantoin. The intra- -batch and inter-batch precision (RSD, %) was ≤ 5.8 %, while the mean extraction recovery was > 92 %. The method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of a 100 mg nitrofurantoin capsule formulation in 36 healthy subjects.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary / blood
  • Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary / chemistry
  • Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary / pharmacokinetics
  • Capsules
  • Chromatography, Liquid / methods*
  • Drug Monitoring / methods
  • Humans
  • Nitrofurantoin* / blood
  • Nitrofurantoin* / chemistry
  • Nitrofurantoin* / pharmacokinetics
  • Nitrofurazone* / blood
  • Nitrofurazone* / chemistry
  • Nitrofurazone* / pharmacokinetics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Solid Phase Extraction / methods
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods*
  • Therapeutic Equivalency

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary
  • Capsules
  • Nitrofurantoin
  • Nitrofurazone