Pharmacokinetic study of ACT-132577 in rat plasma by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

It was reported that macitentan was metabolized predominantly by cytochrome P450 3A4, and ACT-132577, its pharmacologically active metabolite, is fivefold less potent at blocking ET receptors than macitentan. In this work, a sensitive and selective ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for determination of ACT-132577 in rat plasma was developed and validated. After addition of diazepam as an internal standard (IS), protein precipitation by acetonitrile was used to prepare samples. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) with 0.2% formic acid and methanol as the mobile phase with gradient elution. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode was used for quantification using target fragment ions m/z 546.9→200.6 for ACT-132577, and m/z 285.1→193.1 for IS. Calibration plots were linear throughout the range 10-4000 ng/mL for ACT-132577 in rat plasma. Mean recovery of ACT-132577 in rat plasma ranged from 82.6% to 90.6%, matrix effect of ACT-132577 in rat plasma ranged from 101.4% to 115.2%. RSD of intra-day and inter-day precision were both less than 11%. The accuracy of the method ranged from 96.1% to 103.5%. The method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study of ACT-132577 after oral and intravenous administration of macitentan.