Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry method for quantifying polymer poloxamer 124 and its application to pharmacokinetic study

Poloxamer is a commonly used pharmaceutical excipient. It is a high molecular polymer formed using polypropylene oxide and polyethylene oxide units. Specifically, poloxamer 124 is one of the smaller molecular weight in the poloxamer series; however, its pharmacokinetic behaviors in vivo are still unclear. In this study, a method for quantifying poloxamer 124 in rat plasma through ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry was developed. The intravenous dosage of PL124 was 10 mg/kg. Plasma was collected at different times. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.1-5 μg/mL for the poloxamer 124 (r ≥ 0.9956) with the lower limit of quantitation of 0.1 μg/ml. The relative standard deviation of the intraday and interday precisions was below 8.0%, and the relative error of the accuracy was within ±12.0%. The extraction recovery, matrix effect, and stability were satisfactory in rat plasma. The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of poloxamer 124 in rats. Results indicated that poloxamer 124 could be rapidly absorbed and eliminated through caudal vein injection. This study is helpful for the further study of poloxamer 124.

pharmacokinetics; poloxamer 124; quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry; quantitative analysis; ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography.