Determination of Liraglutide in Rat Plasma Using Selective Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Liraglutide is a medication prescribed for the management of type 2 diabetes and chronic obesity. A simple, sensitive, and selective liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantitative analysis of liraglutide in rat plasma. After a simple protein precipitation step, liraglutide was chromatographically separated using the ACQUITY Premier Peptide BEH C18 Column with mobile phases comprising 50% acetonitrile and 50% methanol, and water with 0.3% FA. Positive ion electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring mode was used to achieve detection. Good linearity was observed in the 5–600 ng/mL concentration range (R > 0.99). Liraglutide had intra-and inter-day precision values of 2.13%–9.86% and 4.14%–8.36%, respectively. The accuracy ranged from −2.36% to 2.58%. The² recovery and matrix effect were within acceptable limits. This selective LC-MS/MS method was used to study the pharmacokinetic properties of liraglutide after subcutaneous administration in rats.