Determination of triamcinolone in human plasma by a sensitive HPLC–ESI-MS/MS method: application for a pharmacokinetic study using nasal spray formulation

A liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–ESI-MS/MS) method for the quantitation of triamcinolone in human plasma after nasal spray application was developed and validated. Betamethasone was used as internal standard (IS). The analytes were extracted by a liquid–liquid procedure and separated on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB C18 column with a mobile phase composed of 2 mM aqueous ammonium acetate pH 3.2 and acetonitrile (55:45). Selected reaction monitoring was performed using the transitions m/z 435 → 415 and m/z 393 → 373 to quantify triamcinolone acetonide and betamethasone, respectively. Calibration curve was constructed over the range of 20–2000 pg/ml for triamcinolone acetonide. The lower limit of quantitation was 20 pg/ml. The mean RSD values were 4.6% and 5.7% for the intra-run and inter-run precision, respectively. The mean accuracy value was 98.5% and a recovery rate corresponding to 97.5% was achieved. No matrix effect was detected in the samples. The validated method was successfully applied to determine the plasma concentrations of triamcinolone acetonide in healthy volunteers, in a pharmacokinetic study with nasal spray formulation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.