Quantification of Acyclovir in Human Plasma by Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography - Heated Electrospray Ionization - Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Bioequivalence Evaluation

Abstract

Pharmacokinetic studies are essential towards determining bioequivalence and establishing pharmacokinetic profiles for drug moieties requires accurate quantification. We report a rapid, sensitive, and robust method for the determination of acyclovir in human plasma and its validation towards evaluating the bioequivalence of drug formulations. After a simple liquid-liquid extraction from plasma, acyclovir is quantified using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography - heated electrospray ionization - tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HESI-MS/MS). The assay has a total analysis time is 5 min, a linear range of 1.0 - 2000 ng/mL, a lower limit of detection of 0.5 ng/ mL, and a lower limit of quantification of 1.0 ng/mL. Intra- and inter-day precision is no more than 10.3% and intraand inter-day accuracy was within 13% at various concentrations in human plasma. Validation according to FDA guidelines for bioanalysis indicates that the described UHPLC-HESI-MS/MS method provides rigorous quantification of acyclovir in human plasma and representative data demonstrates successful application towards the determination of pharmacokinetic profiles as part of an evaluation of drug formulation bioequivalence.