High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Method for Quantitative Determination of Fludrocortisone in Human Blood Plasma

The present work was aimed at the development of an analytical method with high sensitivity, selectivity, and rapidity for pharmacokinetic studies. The new method for quantitative determination of fludrocortisone in human blood plasma employs HPLC and mass spectrometric detection with electrospray ionization (ESI). The deuterium-labeled analog of fludrocortisone (fludrocortisone-D5) was used as the internal standard. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 10 pg/mL. The calibration curve was linear in the range 10 – 1000 pg/mL. The coefficient of reliability was at least 0.99. Liquid extraction was used for sample preparation. The proposed technique was tested by studying the bioequivalence of a generic drug in a single administration to healthy volunteers at a dose of 0.1 mg.