A novel simultaneous determination of sarpogrelate and its active metabolite (M-1) in human plasma, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: Clinical application

Background: This study describes a novel analytical method for simultaneously determining sarpogrelate and its metabolite (M-1) in human plasma, using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry, with electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode. Methods: Sarpogrelate, M-1, and labeled internal standard (d3-sarpogrelate) were extracted from 50 μL of human plasma by simple protein precipitation. Chromatographic separation was performed by using a linear gradient elution of a mobile phase involving water-formic acid (99.9:0.1, v/v) and acetonitrile-formic acid (99.9:0.1, v/v) over 4 min of run time on a column, with a core-shell-type stationary phase (Kinetex C18, 50 mm×2.1 mm i.d., 2.6-μm particle size, Phenomenex, USA). Detection of the column effluent was performed by using a triple-quadruple mass spectrometer in the multiple-reaction monitoring mode. Results: The developed method was validated in human plasma, with lower limits of quantification of 10 ng/mL for sarpogrelate and 2 ng/mL for M-1. The calibration curves of sarpogrelate and M-1 were linear over the concentration ranges of 10-2,000 and 2-400 ng/mL, respectively (R²< 0.99). The carry-over effect, precision, accuracy, and stability of the method met the criteria for acceptance. Conclusions: A simple, fast, robust, and reliable analytical method was successfully developed and applied to the high-throughput determination of sarpogrelate and its metabolite in real plasma samples in a pharmacokinetic study of healthy subjects.