An improved simple LC-MS/MS method for the measurement of serum aripiprazole and its major metabolite.
OBJECTIVE
Current liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods to measure serum levels of aripiprazole (Ar) and dehydroaripiprazole (DHAr) are sensitive, but difficult to use in a hospital context. We aimed to develop a rapid LC-MS/MS method allowing reliable level measurement in the presence of co-administered drugs, withdrawing samples from 22 patients with acute agitation receiving 9.75 mg aripiprazole IM injection.


METHODS
We developed a sensitive and selective HPLC-MS/MS method to measure serum Ar and DHAr levels in a hospital laboratory, requiring minimal sample preparation and inferior sample volume compared to previous LC-MS/MS methods. Analytes were separated on a reversed-phase HPLC (run-time, 10 min). A triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer was used for quantitative analysis in positive mode by a multiple reaction monitoring. Samples were drawn 2, 4, 6, and 24h post-injection.


RESULTS
Calibration curves (2-1000 ng/mL for Ar and 3.5-500 ng/mL for DHAr) were linear, with mean correlation coefficient >0.9998. Within- and between-day precision and accuracy were within 10%. Mean recovery was 95.2 ± 4.5% for Ar and 97.6 ± 7.2% for DHAr. Ar and DHAr peaks were not affected by other co-administered psychotropic drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
Our method measured Ar and DHAr concentrations reliably, simply and rapidly without employing many reagents, as currently existing methods.
NESMOS (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs) Department, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy.m.caloro@gmail.com
Matteo
M
Caloro
Luana
L
Lionetto
Ilaria
I
Cuomo
Alessio
A
Simonetti
Daniela
D
Pucci
Simone
S
De Persis
Barbara
B
Casolla
Giorgio D
GD
Kotzalidis
Antonio
A
Sciarretta
Sergio
S
De Filippis
Maurizio
M
Simmaco
Paolo
P
Girardi
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000097:blood*; D000068180:Aripiprazole; D002138:Calibration; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D010879:Piperazines / Q000097:blood*; D015363:Quinolones / Q000097:blood*; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010879:Piperazines; D015363:Quinolones; D000068180:Aripiprazole