Quantitative analysis of cimetidine in human plasma using LC/APCI/SRM/MS

A quantitative method was developed and validated for rapid and sensitive analysis of cimetidine in human plasma. The method involved the use of liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mass spectrometry (MS). A cimetidine analog, SKF92374, was used as the internal standard. Separation of cimetidine and the internal standard was accomplished using a reverse-phase HPLC column (C18). The eluted components were ionized by the APCI source and subsequently detected by a highly selective triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in the SRM mode. Linear standard curves were obtained from 5 ng/mL (lower limit of quantitation) to 10,000 ng/mL. The results demonstrated excellent precision (%RSD 1. 1-8.9%) and accuracy (94.7-108.0%) over this range. In addition, the amount of plasma sample needed for analysis was small (50 muL), and the plasma pretreatment (analyte recovery >94%) was simple and time saving. This assay was used to evaluate cimetidine levels in premature infants following intravenous infusion of cimetidine.