Determination of famotidine in low-volume human plasma by normal-phase liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid, sensitive and robust assay procedure using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for the determination of famotidine in human plasma and urine is described. Famotidine and the internal standard were isolated from plasma samples by cation-exchange solid-phase extraction with benzenesulfonic acid (SCX) cartridges. The urine assay used direct injection of a diluted urine sample. The chromatographic separation was accomplished by using a BDS Hypersil silica column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile–water containing trifluoroacetic acid. The MS/MS detection of the analytes was set in the positive ionization mode using electrospray ionization for sample introduction. The analyte and internal standard precursor–product ion combinations were monitored in the multiple-reaction monitoring mode. Assay calibration curves were linear in the concentration range 0.5–500 ng ml−1 and 0.05–50 µg ml−1 in plasma and urine, respectively. For the plasma assay, a 100 µl sample aliquot was subjected to extraction. To perform the urine assay, a 50 µl sample aliquot was used. The intra-day relative standard deviations at all concentration levels were <10%. The inter-day consistency was assessed by running quality control samples during each daily run. The limit of quantification was 0.5 ng ml−1 in plasma and 0.05 µg ml−1 in urine. The methods were utilized to support clinical pharmacokinetic studies in infants aged 0–12 months. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.