Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry with triple stage fragmentation for highly selective analysis and pharmacokinetics of alarelin in rat plasma

Alarelin, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue, is widely used in China for the treatment of endometriosis and uterine leiomyoma. In order to investigate its pharmacokinetic behavior and support the preclinical application of new formulations, we have developed a novel and highly selective bioanalytical method to determine alarelin in rat plasma based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry with triple stage fragmentation. After sample preparation by protein precipitation followed by reversed phase solid phase extraction, alarelin and triptorelin (internal standard) were chromatographed on an Ascentis® Express C18 column (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 2.7 µm) using gradient elution with 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Detection was by positive mode electrospray ionization followed by triple stage fragmentation using the transitions at m/z 584.6→249.1→221.0 for alarelin and 656.5→249.1→176.0 for triptorelin, The assay was linear in the concentration range 0.3-10 ng/mL with excellent precision and accuracy. It was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in rats administered a dose of 13.5 µg/kg alarelin by intramuscular injection. The results show that the triple stage fragmentation strategy allows highly selective analysis of alarelin and has the potential to be widely applied to the bioassay of other peptidic drugs.