Quantitative determination of pimozide in human plasma by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and its application in a bioequivalence study.

摘要

A simple, sensitive and specific LC-ESI/MS method was developed for the determination of pimozide in human plasma. Pimozide and cinnarizine (internal standard) were isolated from plasma samples by liquid-liquid extraction. The chromatographic separation was accomplished on a Thermo Hypersil-HyPURITY C18 reversed-phase column (150mmx2.1mm, i.d., 5microm) with the mobile phase consisting of 5mM ammonium acetate (pH 3.5, adjusted with acetic acid)-methanol-acetonitrile (39:5:56, v/v/v). The lower limit of quantification was 0.02ng/mL, and the assay exhibited a linear range of 0.025-12.800ng/mL. The established method has been successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of 2 pimozide formulations in 32 healthy male Chinese volunteers.