Determination and Pharmacokinetic Study of Propofol in Rat Plasma

In this study, a simple, rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method is described for determination of propofol in rat plasma samples using chlorzoxazone as the internal standard (IS) from pharmacokinetic assays. Sample preparation was accomplished through liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate, and chromatographic separation was performed on an Acquity BEH C18 column (2.1 mm x 50 mm, 1.7 mu m) with gradient profile at a flow of 0.4 mL/min. The linearity of this method was found to be within the concentration range of 10-1000 ng/mL for propofol in rat plasma. Only 1.5 min was needed for an analytical run. The method was applied to a pharmacokinetic study of propofol in rats.