Determination of 2-aryl-7(3',4'-dialkoxyphenyl)-pyrazolo [1,5-alpha] pyrimidine, a novel phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor, in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A method for assaying a novel phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor, 2-aryl-7(3',4'-dialkoxyphenyl)-pyrazolo [1,5-alpha] pyrimidine (PDE-310), was developed and validated in rat plasma using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). Rat plasma samples were processed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and injected onto the LC-MS-MS system for quantification. PDE-310 and imipramine (i.e., internal standard) were separated using a Gemini C18 column with mixture of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid (70:30, v/v) as the mobile phase. The ion transitions monitored were m/z 425.0 → 331.0 for PDE-310 and m/z 281.3 → 86.1 for imipramine in the multiple-reaction monitoring mode. The detector response was specific and linear for PDE-310 concentrations in the range of 0.1-50 µg/mL. The intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy of the method were determined to be within the acceptance criteria for assay validation guidelines. The recoveries were approximately 85.7 and 88.2% from rat plasma for PDE-310 and imipramine, respectively. PDE-310 was stable under various processing and handling conditions. PDE-310 concentrations were readily measured in rat plasma samples up to 8 h after an intravenous administration of PDE-310, suggesting that the assay is practically useful.