title: [Rapid analysis of terbutaline by combined solid phase extraction/liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method for rapid analysis of terbutaline at level of 50 pg.mL-1 in human plasma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Samples containing terbutaline and salbutamol (internal standard, IS) were extracted using C18 solid-phase extraction cartridges, followed by liquid chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric detection. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-water-formic acid (20:80:1), at a flow-rate of 0.4 mL.min-1. Selected reaction monitoring with mass transitions m/z 226-->151 and m/z 240-->148 were used for terbutaline and IS, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The chromatographic analysis time for each sample was approximately 3.8 min. The assay was linear from 0.05 to 8.0 ng.mL-1. The between-run precision and accuracy of the quality controls (QCs, 0.1, 0.4 and 4.0 ng.mL-1) were characterized by relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.5% to 7.1% and relative errors of -3.1% to 5.7%, respectively. The within-run precision of QCs was characterized by RSD of 4.2% to 6.6%. This method was applied to the analysis of samples taken up to 60 h after oral administration of 10 mg bambuterol in healthy volunteers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The method is shown to be suitable for clinical investigation of terbutaline pharmacokinetics, which offers advantages of specificity, speed, and greater sensitivity over previously reported methods.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: X Y
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000097:blood; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011786:Quality Control; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D013726:Terbutaline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D013726:Terbutaline; C047766:bambuterol