title: Enantioselective determination of the novel antidepressant mirtazapine and its active demethylated metabolite in human plasma by means of capillary electrophoresis.
abstract: Mirtazapine is a recent noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant drug. A capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the enantioseparation and analysis of mirtazapine and its main active metabolite, N-desmethylmirtazapine, in human plasma. For method optimisation several experimental parameters were investigated, such as type and concentration of the chiral selector, buffer pH and capillary temperature. Baseline enantioseparation of the analytes was achieved in 2.5 min in a fused silica capillary (50 microm i.d.; 48.5 cm total length; 8.5 cm effective length) using carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin, dissolved in a background electrolyte consisting of 50 mM phosphate buffer at pH 2.5, as the chiral selector. UV detection was set at 205 nm. A careful pre-treatment of plasma samples was developed, using solid-phase extraction with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance cartridges (60 mg, 3 mL), eluting the sample with methanol, then concentrating it 37.5 times before injection. Extraction yield values are very satisfactory, being the average 89% for mirtazapine and 73% for N-desmethylmirtazapine. Application of the method to some human plasma samples has given satisfactory results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mandrioli
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pucci
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sabbioni
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartoletti
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fanali
authors.forename: Maria Augusta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Raggi
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000097:blood*; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008803:Mianserin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood*; D000078785:Mirtazapine; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D008803:Mianserin; D000078785:Mirtazapine