Quantification of roxatidine in human plasma by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry: application to a bioequivalence study

A sensitive and specific method using a one-step liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with ethyl acetate followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with positive ion electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) detection was developed and validated for the determination of roxatidine in human plasma using famotidine as an internal standard (IS). Data acquisition was carried out in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, by monitoring the transitions m/z 307.3-->107.1 for roxatidine and m/z 338.4-->189.1 for famotidine. Chromatographic separation was performed on a reverse phase Hydrosphere C(18) column at 0.2 mL min(-1) using a mixture of methanol-ammonium formate buffer as mobile phase (20:80, v/v; adjusted to pH 3.9 with formic acid). The achieved lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 1.0 ng mL(-1) and the standard calibration curve for roxatidine was linear (r(2)=0.998) over the studied range (1-1000 ng mL(-1)) with acceptable accuracy and precision. Roxatidine was found to be stable in human plasma samples under short-, long-term storage and processing conditions. The developed method was validated and successfully applied to the bioequivalence study of roxatidine administrated as a single oral dose (75 mg as roxatidine acetate hydrochloride) to healthy female Korean volunteers.