HPLC Analysis of Antipsychotic Asenapine in Alternative Biomatrices: Hair and Nail Clippings

Determination of ten antipsychotics in blood, hair and nails: Validation of a LC-MS/MS method and forensic application of keratinized matrix analysis

Determination of antipsychotics from biological samples is meaningful in the field of clinical and forensic medicine. Compared to blood, keratinized matrices such as hair and nails have attracted increasing attention in drug analysis for wider detection window. Nevertheless, the distribution and stability of antipsychotics in keratinized matrices are not clarified yet. Therefore, we developed a LC-MS/MS based method for simultaneous determination of 10 antipsychotics from blood, hair and nails, with high recovery (78.1-107.4%, 71.3-93.5% and 75.2-90.5%), low LOD (5-10 pg/mL, 5-10 pg/mg and 5 pg/mg) and high accuracy (96.0%-101.6%, 97.5%-102.5% and 97.6-101.7%). The method was applied to sets of blood, hair, and nail samples of 54 patients who received long-term therapy, and significant correlations between drug concentrations in blood and hair was found, while the correlation between nails and other matrices varied depending on the drug. Except for olanzapine, the concentrations of antipsychotics in segmental hair samples were consistent with drug exposure. Besides, the hair and nail samples of suspects in two forensic cases were analyzed and provided supporting evidence for the suspects' psychiatric state. Our research offered a deeper understanding of keratinized matrix as stable and retrospective bio-samples for antipsychotics detection in forensic practice.

Determination of Asenapine Maleate in Pharmaceutical and Biological Matrices: A Critical Review of Analytical Techniques over the Past Decade

Asenapine maleate is a second-generation atypical antipsychotic agent used in the treatment of schizophrenia, a neuropsychiatric disorder. It is available as a fast-dissolving sublingual tablet to avoid extensive first-pass metabolism with higher bioavailability as compared to oral formulations. Although, the established therapeutic solutions do not sufficiently satisfy the patient's safety and efficacy needs. Thus, the core research emphasis is to investigate strategies to produce novel formulations with enhanced safety and efficacy. This necessitates the development of robust, precise, and accurate methods for quantification of asenapine maleate in different sample matrices. Given the foregoing information, the current analysis concentrates on the different analytical techniques used to assess asenapine maleate in bulk, pharmaceutical formulations, and biological specimens. Reverse-phase HPLC coupled with UV detection is a majorly (nearly 50% of papers investigated) used technique for the estimation of asenapine maleate in formulations. On the other hand, for its quantification in the biological matrix, hyphenated techniques using mass spectrometry are widely used. This critical review reveals different analytical methodologies, including spectrophotometric, chromatographic, capillary electrophoresis techniques reported from 2011 to 2020, for the measurement of asenapine maleate in various sample matrices. The information presented in this review would be useful in future research for robust analytical method development for asenapine maleate utilizing a more scientific and risk-based approach. Also, it would aid to minimize analytical failure as well as method fine-tuning throughout the product life cycle. Further, this review may also direct scientists toward the development of methodologies for green research.

Metal-Organic Frameworks in Bioanalysis: Extraction of Small Organic Molecules

The quantitative determination of xenobiotic compounds, as well as biotics in biological matrices, is generally described with the term bioanalysis. Due to the complexity of biofluids, in combination with the low concentration of the small molecules, their determination in biological matrices is a challenging procedure. Apart from the conventional solid-phase extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, protein precipitation, and direct injection approaches, nowadays, a plethora of microextraction and miniaturized extraction techniques have been reported. Furthermore, the development and evaluation of novel extraction adsorbents for sample preparation has become a popular research field. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are novel materials composed of metal ions or clusters in coordination with organic linkers. Unequivocally, MOFs are gaining more and more attention in analytical chemistry due to their superior properties, including high surface area and tunability of pore size and functionality. This review discusses the utilization of MOFs in the sample preparation of biological samples for the green extraction of small organic molecules. Their common preparation and characterization strategies are discussed, while emphasis is given to their applications for green sample preparation.

Preclinical pharmacokinetics and biodistribution studies of asenapine maleate using novel and sensitive RP–HPLC method

Aim: Asenapine maleate (ASPM) is a newer antipsychotic drug available as a sublingual tablet in the market. Experimental: To investigate the pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution study of ASPM following oral administration in rats, reversed-phase HPLC method was developed and validated. Results: ASPM was extracted from plasma and tissue matrix by liquid–liquid extraction technique and analyzed using mobile phase consisted of phosphate buffer pH 3.0 and acetonitrile (65:35% v/v). The method showed good linearity (10–500 ng/ml) with recovery 83–102%. In pharmacokinetics study, half-life was 32.74 ± 7.51 h due to slow elimination of drug. The biodistribution study indicated preferential distribution of ASPM to highly perfused organs. Conclusion: The current method can be successfully applied for estimating the drug in various biological matrices.