Assay of nicergoline and three metabolites in human plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry.

A method for the simultaneous determination of nicergoline and three of its metabolites in human plasma and urine has been developed using high-performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry. Nicergoline and its metabolites were extracted from the plasma and urine samples with chloroform and separated on a reversed-phase ODS column. The eluents were led to the atmospheric pressure ionization interface and then analysed in the selected-ion monitoring mode. The detection limits of nicergoline and three of its metabolites were ca. 2 ng/ml in plasma and ca. 10 ng/ml in urine, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.