title: A sensitive assay for simultaneous determination of plasma concentrations of valganciclovir and its active metabolite ganciclovir by LC/MS/MS.
abstract: A protein precipitation, liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of valganciclovir and its active metabolite ganciclovir in human plasma. The solvent system also served as a protein precipitation reagent. The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Aquasil C18 column (50 mm x 2.1mm, 5 microm). A linear gradient mobile phase between 0.02% formic acid and methanol was used. Detection was by positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry on a Sciex API3000. The standard curves, which ranged from 4 to 512 ng/mL for valganciclovir and from 0.1 to 12.8 microg/mL for ganciclovir, were fitted to a 1/x weighted quadratic regression model. The method was proved to be accurate, specific and sensitive enough and was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, ZhongShan Hospital, Fudan University, 180 FenLin Road, Shanghai 200032, China. hrxu@zshospital.com
authors.forename: Hong-Rong
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xue-Ning
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Gang-Yi
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nan-Nan
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004355:Drug Stability; D015774:Ganciclovir / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D000077562:Valganciclovir
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077562:Valganciclovir; D015774:Ganciclovir