Gas chromatography-electron ionization-mass spectrometry quantitation of valproic acid and gabapentin, using dried plasma spots, for therapeutic drug monitoring in in-home medical care.

A simple and sensitive gas chromatography-electron ionization-mass spectrometry (GC-EI-MS) method using dried plasma spot testing cards was developed for determination of valproic acid and gabapentin concentrations in human plasma from patients receiving in-home medical care. We have proposed that a simple, easy and dry sampling method is suitable for in-home medical patients for therapeutic drug monitoring. Therefore, in the present study, we used recently developed commercially available easy handling cards: Whatman FTA DMPK-A and Bond Elut DMS. In-home medical care patients can collect plasma using these simple kits. The spots of plasma on the cards were extracted into methanol and then evaporated to dryness. The residues were trimethylsilylated using N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide. For GC-EI-MS analysis, the calibration curves on both cards were linear from 10 to 200 µg/mL for valproic acid, and from 0.5 to 10 µg/mL for gabapentin. Intra- and interday precisions in plasma were both ≤13.0% (coefficient of variation), and the accuracy was between 87.9 and 112% for both cards within the calibration curves. The limits of quantification were 10 µg/mL for valproic acid and 0.5 µg/mL for gabapentin on both cards. We believe that the present method will be useful for in-home medical care.

Development and validation of a GC-EI-MS method with reduced adsorption loss for the quantification of olanzapine in human plasma.

A simple and sensitive GC-EI-MS method using solvent extraction and evaporation was developed for the determination of olanzapine concentrations in plasma samples. Because olanzapine and promazine, which was used as the internal standard (IS), are nitrogenous bases, they can adsorb to the weakly acidic silanol groups on the surfaces of glass centrifuge tubes during solvent extraction and evaporation. Silylation of the glass tubes, addition of triethylamine (TEA), and use of a sample solution with a basic pH could prevent adsorption loss. The extraction method involved mixing plasma (500 µL) in a silylated glass tube with a promazine solution (2 µg/mL, 25 µL) in methanol containing 1% TEA. After addition of aqueous sodium carbonate (0.5 mol/L, pH 11.1, 1 mL) and extraction into 3 mL of dichloromethane/n-hexane (1:1, v/v) containing 1% TEA, the organic phase was evaporated to dryness in a silylated glass tube. The residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate containing 1% TEA (50 µL). For GC-EI-MS analysis, the calibration curves of olanzapine in human plasma were linear from 0.5 to 100 ng/mL. Intra- and interday precisions in plasma were both less than 7.36% (coefficient of variation), and the accuracy was between 94.6 and 110% for solutions with concentrations greater than 0.5 ng/mL. The limit of quantification was 0.5 ng/mL in plasma. The assay was applied to therapeutic drug monitoring in samples from three schizophrenic patients.