A rapid and sensitive LC/MS/MS assay for the quantitation of brimonidine in ocular fluids and tissues

We report here the development and validation of an LC/MS/MS method for the rapid and accurate quantitation of brimonidine in ocular tissues and fluids using brimonidine-d4 as an internal standard (IS). Brimonidine was extracted from retina, iris/ciliary body, and vitreous humor samples with an acetonitrile:water (1:1) solution followed by sonication and vortexing. Aliquots of aqueous humor, iris/ciliary body, retina, and vitreous humor samples were diluted with acetonitrile containing IS and were separated on a reverse-phase HPLC column under isocratic conditions. Brimonidine (m/z transition: 292 → 212) and the internal standard (m/z transition: 296 → 216) were analyzed via multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) in the positive electrospray mode on a 4000 Q TRAP® instrument. The total analysis time for each sample was less than 2.0 min. The calibration curves for brimonidine (1–1000 ng/mL) were constructed using a linear regression with 1/x2 weighing. The lower limit of quantitation for brimonidine was 1.0 ng/mL for aqueous humor, 10 ng/g for iris/ciliary body, 12.5 ng/g for retina, and 1.6 ng/g for vitreous humor. Intra-day and inter-day estimates of accuracy and precision were within 15% of their nominal values indicating that the method is reliable for quantitation of brimonidine in ocular tissues and fluids.