Determination of chidamide in rat plasma by LC-MS and its application to pharmacokinetics study

A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method for determination of chidamide in rat plasma was developed. After addition of linezolid as internal standard, protein precipitation by acetonitrile-methanol (9:1, v/v) was used as sample preparation. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Zorbax SB-C18 (2.1 × 150 mm, 5 µm) column with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid as mobile phase with gradient elution. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; selective ion monitoring mode was used for quantification using target fragment ions m/z 391.5 for chidamide and m/z 338.5 for the IS. Calibration plots were linear over the range of 10-2000 ng/mL for chidamide in rat plasma. The lower limit of quantification for chidamide was 10 ng/mL. The mean recovery of chidamide in plasma was in the range of 86.6-92.1%. The coefficients of variation of intra-day and inter-day precision were both <12%. This method is simple and sensitive and was applied successfully in a pharmacokinetic study of chidamide to rats.