title: Determination of procaterol in human plasma by gas chromatography/electron impact ionization mass spectrometry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This assay was sensitive, precise, and accurate for evaluating the clinical pharmacokinetics of procaterol.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacogenetics Research Institute, Basic & Clinical Pharmacology Institute, Hu-nan Medical University, Changsha 410078, China.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ou-Yang
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000097:blood*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D017265:Procaterol / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D017265:Procaterol