Determination of marbofloxacin in plasma and synovial fluid by ultrafiltration followed by HPLC–MS/MS

Abstract A rapid LC–MS/MS method for the determination of marbofloxacin in plasma and synovial fluid is presented in this study. The method uses a rapid sample preparation which only requires an ultrafiltration step with centrifugal filter devices. The optimized procedure allows a minimal need of sample (175 μL), particularly useful for synovial fluid samples which amount is rather limited; it is simple, rapid and easily applicable providing anyhow a satisfactory clean up, demonstrated by post-infusion experiments. On the other hand to maximize the speed of the analysis an ultrafast chromatographic separation has been obtained by selecting a column of 20 mm; the reduced run-time is suitable for processing numerous samples on a daily basis. Linearity was assessed in the range 5–2500 ng mL −1 ; ofloxacin was used as internal standard. LOD and LOQ were respectively 1 and 5 ng/mL. The method was successfully applied to a set of samples generated during an experimental veterinary study.