The aim of this ABT199 work was to present a reliable UPLC–MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of AT and EZ in human plasma with a low limit of quantification (0.1 ng mL−1) to facilitate the pharmacokinetic and bioavailability studies of this combination in humans. The developed method was used to investigate the pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence

study of commercially available combination product B versus the reference standard branded combination product A. The choice of this method, despite of its high cost, was due to its superior sensitivity, specificity and efficiency. The fast injection cycles, low injection volumes and negligible carryover together contributed to the speed

and sensitivity of the UPLC analysis, 13 a quality that was highly appreciated in analysis of AT and EZ mixture in plasma. Standards of atorvastatin and ezetimibe were supplied and certified by ADWIA, Egypt (purity 99% and 99.5% respectively). The internal standard etilefrine was supplied and certified by DELTA Pharma, Egypt (purity 98.6%). Acetonitrile, formic acid, tert-butyl methyl ether and methanol, KH2PO4, Na2HPO4 were Merck products (Germany). Deionized bi-distilled water (Milli-Q® system, USA) was used. All other chemicals and solvents were of the highest www.selleckchem.com/products/gsk2656157.html analytical grade available. The human plasma used in the validation procedure was over obtained from the holding company for biological products and vaccines (VACSERA, Egypt). Analytical separations were performed with an ACQUITY™ UPLC system equipped with a micro-vacuum degasser, binary gradient pumps, thermostatted autosampler, thermostatted column compartment, and an ACQUITY™ UPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm), all obtained from Waters Corp. (USA). The column temperature was maintained at 40 °C. The mobile phase was 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile mixture. The mobile phase was used in a gradient mode according to the profile shown in Table 1. The flow rate was adjusted to 0.7 mL min−1.

The mobile phase was filtered through a 0.22-μm membrane filter (Millipore, USA) before use. The autosampler temperature was kept at 10 °C and the samples were injected onto the column with an injection volume of 10 μL. The data acquisition run time was kept at 1.2 min for the mass spectrometer (MS). All data were collected and processed using Empower™ 2 Software (Waters Corp). Mass spectra were acquired on a Quattro Premier XE™ Micromass® triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (Waters Corp.) with an electrospray ionization interface operated in positive and negative ion mode at source temperature 150 °C and desolvation temperature 480 °C. The operating conditions were optimized by flow injection of a mixture of all analytes as follows: nitrogen carrier gas flow 900 L h−1, argon collision gas flow 0.