title: Detection and quantification of aripiprazole and its metabolite, dehydroaripiprazole, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in blood samples of psychiatric patients.
abstract: Aripiprazole is a novel antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders. In this study, a new method using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed and validated for the detection of aripiprazole and its main metabolite, dehydroaripiprazole, in plasma. Blood samples from seven psychiatric patients treated with aripiprazole (10-20 mg/day) underwent a solid-phase extraction (SPE) and N-methyl-N-trimethylsilytrifluoroacetamide (MSTFA) derivatization. The characteristic ions of mass spectra for aripiprazole and dehydroaripiprazole were m/z 306, 292, 218 and 304, 290, 218, respectively. Extraction recoveries from this method were 75.4% (n=5) for aripiprazole and 102.3% (n=5) for dehydroaripiprazole. The calibration curves of aripiprazole and dehydroaripiprazole were linear from 16 to 500 ng/ml (r(2)=0.999) and 8 to 250 ng/ml (r(2)=0.999), respectively. The respective limits of quantification (LOQs) for aripiprazole and dehydroaripiprazole evaluated in 0.5 ml of serum were 14.4 ng/ml and 6.9 ng/ml. Intra-assay and interassay precision and accuracy were within acceptable ranges. In this study, we also found that the mean trough concentrations in plasma at steady-state were 128.9 microg/l for aripiprazole and 30.1 microg/l for dehydroaripiprazole.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Yu-Li Hospital, Department of Health, Hualien, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hui-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chin-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Tsuo-Hung
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Tsung-Ming
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hsien-Jane
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Yu-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ying Lung
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tseng
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000097:blood*; D000068180:Aripiprazole; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000097:blood*; D010879:Piperazines / Q000097:blood*; D015363:Quinolones / Q000097:blood*; D012015:Reference Standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010879:Piperazines; D015363:Quinolones; C517414:dehydroaripiprazole; D000068180:Aripiprazole