Design of packed-fiber solid-phase extraction device for analysis of the drug and its metabolite in plasma

A mini-column packed with 1 mg electrospun polystyrene nanofibers (about 200 approximately 400 nm in diameter) was designed for simple, fast extraction of drugs, diazepam and its major metabolite, N-desmethyldiazepam for the analysis of them in human and dog plasma. Ttrezodone was selected as internal standard. The drugs adsorbed on the solid phase could be desorpted with 50 microl of the methanol and then monitored by liquid chromatography coupled to an ultraviolet detector. Parameters influencing the extraction efficiency such as fiber packing amount, eluted solvent, and pH of the sample were decided. The time for the pretreatment of 0.5 ml plasma sample was less than 10 min. The detection limits of diazepam and N-desmethyldiazepam in plasma could be as low as 1 microg/L. The intra- and inter-day precision, calculated from quality control (QC) samples, was less than 9.1%. The method was evaluated by its application in determination of dog plasma samples from three beagles after a single dose oral of diazepam. The technique was validated by comparison with conventional plasma analysis. It was observed that the mini-column offers improved limits of detection and reduced sample preparation time as compared to conventional method. For its simplicity and sensitivity, the method may be used in therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacology study.