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Nanoliposomes are considered to be the most successful nanoparticle drug delivery system, but their fate in vivo has not been fully understood due to lack of reliable bioanalytical methods, which seriously limits the development of liposomal drugs. Hence, an overview of currently used bioanalytical methods is imperative to lay the groundwork for the need of developing a bioanalytical method for liposome measurements in vivo. Currently, major analytical methods for nanoliposomes measurement in vivo include fluorescence labeling, radiolabeling, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), mass spectrometry and computed tomography. In this review, these bioanalytical methods are summarized, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. We provide insights into the applicability and limitations of these analytical methods in the application of nanoliposomes measurement in vivo, and highlight the recent development of instrumental analysis techniques. The review is devoted to providing a comprehensive overview of the investigation of nanoliposomes design and associated fate in vivo, promoting the development of bioanalytical techniques for nanoliposomes measurement, and understanding the pharmacokinetic behavior, effectiveness and potential toxicity of nanoliposomes in vivo.

Polyethylene glycols (PEGs) are synthetic polymers composed of repeating ethylene oxide subunits. They display excellent biocompatibility and are widely used as pharmaceutical excipients. To fully understand the biological fate of PEGs requires accurate and sensitive analytical methods for their quantitation. Application of conventional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is difficult because PEGs have polydisperse molecular weights (MWs) and tend to produce multicharged ions in-source resulting in innumerable precursor ions. As a result, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) fails to scan all ion pairs so that information on the fate of unselected ions is missed. This Article addresses this problem by application of liquid chromatography-triple-quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF MS) based on the MS technique. This technique performs information-independent acquisition by allowing all PEG precursor ions to enter the collision cell (Q2). In-quadrupole collision-induced dissociation (CID) in Q2 then effectively generates several fragments from all PEGs due to the high collision energy (CE). A particular PEG product ion (m/z 133.08592) was found to be common to all linear PEGs and allowed their total quantitation in rat plasma with high sensitivity, excellent linearity and reproducibility. Assay validation showed the method was linear for all linear PEGs over the concentration range 0.05-5.0 μg/mL. The assay was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study in rat involving intravenous administration of linear PEG 600, PEG 4000, and PEG 20000. It is anticipated the method will have wide ranging applications and stimulate the development of assays for other pharmaceutical polymers in the future.

Rabeprazole is a novel benzimidazole proton pump inhibitor used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. It is a chiral molecule that gives rise to the possibility of stereoselective pharmacokinetics. To investigate this phenomenon, a rapid and sensitive chiral assay based on supercritical fluid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was developed and applied to the determination of (R)-rabeprazole and (S)-rabeprazole in dog plasma. Sample preparation involved protein precipitation with acetonitrile after the addition of (R)-lansoprazole as internal standard. Baseline separation of enantiomers in 4.5 min was achieved on an Acquity UPC system using an ACQUITY UPC Trefoil CEL2 column maintained at 60°C and a mobile phase consisting of methanol/CO (30:70, v/v) delivered at 2.5 mL/min. Detection was achieved by multiple reaction monitoring of the transitions at m/z 360.0→242.2 (rabeprazole) and 370.3→252.0 (internal standard) in the positive ion mode. The assay was linear in the range of 1-1000 ng/mL and free of matrix effects. Intra- and interday precisions were less than 10.0% with accuracy in the range of -2.6 to 3.1%. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of rabeprazole enantiomers after administration of a single oral dose of 10 mg racemate to beagle dogs.