LC-MS/MS bioassay of four proton pump inhibitors

A new validated bio-analytical LC-MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous extraction and determination of four proton pump inhibitors: esomeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole and rabeprazole in human plasma using escitalopram as an internal standard. The proteins in plasma samples were precipitated using acetonitrile for the extraction of analytes which is a simple economic method. The separation was accomplished using a mobile phase composed of 10 mM ammonium formate: acetonitrile: methanol (20:40:40% v/v) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min in isocratic mode on a reversed phase C18 INERTSIL ODS-3 (5 μm, 150 × 4.6 mm) and column temperature of 40 °C. Positive mode electrospray ionization source was used prior to multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) detection using parent and daughter ions: m/z 346.2 → 198.1 for esomeprazole, m/z 370.1 → 252 for lansoprazole, m/z 384.2 → 200.2 for pantoprazole, m/z 360.1 → 242.1 for rabeprazole and m/z 325.2 → 109 for escitalopram. The calibration curves were constructed, and the method was linear in the range of 20-5000 ng/mL applying weighted (1/X²) linear regression coefficient for all drugs. The method was fully validated following US-FDA and EMA guidelines.