title: Analysis of rocuronium in human whole blood and tissues using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: A rapid, accurate and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed for the determination of a quaternary nitrogen muscle relaxant, rocuronium, in human blood. The procedure involves protein precipitation with chloroform and trichloroacetic acid, and purification using methanol. The chromatography was performed using a phenyl-hexyl column (150 × 2.0 mm i.d., 3 µm; Phenomenex) with a mobile phase consisting of 5 mM ammonium formate (pH 3.0) and acetonitrile. Multiple reaction monitoring was used for quantification. The assay was linear over a concentration range of 4-500 ng/mL for rocuronium with R(2) ≥ 0.998. The recoveries for this compound ranged from 96.0 to 109.1%. The intra-day and inter-day precision was less than 10.5% and the accuracy ranged from 106.6 to 114.9%. The validated method was applied to quantify the content of rocuronium in blood and a variety of tissues of a victim suspected of overdose. In conclusion, the method was successfully applied for the analysis of rocuronium in biological samples for forensic toxicology.
authors: College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors: Hwang Eui
authors: HE
authors: Cho
authors: Mee Jung
authors: MJ
authors: Park
authors: Sun Cheun
authors: SC
authors: Kim
authors: Ran Seon
authors: RS
authors: Hong
authors: Dong Cheul
authors: DC
authors: Moon
authors: Su Youn
authors: SY
authors: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000732:Androstanols / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000077123:Rocuronium; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D000732:Androstanols; D000077123:Rocuronium