Analytical method development and validation of mianserin hydrochloride and its metabolite in human plasma by LC–MS

Mianserin is a tetracyclic antidepressant drug and administered as racemate of R (−) and S (+) mianserin hydrochloride in a dose of 30–90 mg/day in divided doses. Liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC–MS) is a tool, which is widely used for determination of drug and their metabolites in biological fluids because of its high sensitivity and precision. Here we describe a liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy method for simultaneous determination of mianserin and its metabolite, N-desmethylmianserin, from human plasma using a liquid–liquid extraction with hexane:isoamylalcohol (98:2) and back extraction with 0.005 M formic acid solution. This method is specific and linear over the concentration range of 1.00–60.00 ng/ml for mianserin and 0.50–14.00 ng/ml for N-desmethylmianserin in human plasma. The lowest limits of quantification (LLQ) is 1.00 ng/ml for mianserin and 0.50 ng/ml for N-desmethylmianserin. Intraday and interday precision (%C.V.) is <10% for both mianserin and N-desmethylmianserin. The accuracy ranges from 94.44 to 112.33% for mianserin and 91.85–100.13% for N-desmethylmianserin. The stability studies showed that mianserin and N-desmethylmianserin in human plasma are stable during short-term period for sample preparation and analysis. The method was used to assay mianserin and its metabolite, N-desmethylmianserin, in human plasma samples obtained from subjects who had been given an oral tablet of 30 mg of mianserin.