Simultaneous determination of paclitaxel and a new P-glycoprotein inhibitor HM-30181 in rat plasma by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectometry

An LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of a new P-glycoprotein inhibitor 4-oxo-4H-chromene-2-carboxylic acid [2-(2-(4[2-(6,7-dimethoxy-3,4dihydro-1H-isoquinolin-2-yl) -ethyl]-phenyl)-2H-tetrazol-5-yl)-4,5-dimethoxy-phenyl]-amide(HM-30181) and a P-glycoprotein substrate paclitaxel in rat plasma was developed to simultaneously evaluate the pharmacokinetics of paclitaxel and HM-30181 in the rats. HM-30181, paclitaxel, HM-30059 (internal standard (I.S.) for HM-30181), and docetaxel (I.S. for paclitaxel) were extracted from rat plasma with methyl-tert-butyl ether and analyzed on an Atlantis C18 column (5 μm, 2.1 × 100 mm) with the mobile phase of ACN/10 mM ammonium formate (75:25 v/v). The analytes were detected using an ESI MS/MS in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The standard curves for HM-30181 and paclitaxel in plasma were linear (r>0.999) over the concentration range of 2.0-500 ng/mL with a weighting of 1/concentration². The method showed a satisfactory sensitivity (2 ng/mL using 50 μL plasma), precision (CV:≤6.6%), accuracy (relative error: -6.3 to 2.0%), and selectivity. This method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of HM-30181 and paclitaxel in rat plasma after oral-coadministration of paclitaxel and HM-30181 to male Sprague-Dawley rats.