Moxifloxacin (MFX) is a potential oral agent use in the treatment of multidrug-resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Due to variability in pharmacokinetics and in vitro susceptibility of causative bacteria, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of MFX is recommended. Conventional plasma sampling for TDM is facing logistical challenges, especially in limited resource areas, and dried blood spots (DBS) sampling may offer a chance to overcome this problem. The objective of this study was to develop a LC-MS/MS method for determination of MFX in dried blood spots (DBS) that is applicable for TDM. The influence of paper type, the hematocrit (Hct) and the blood volume per spot (V(b)) on the estimated blood volume in a disc (V(est)) was investigated. The extracts of 8mm diameter discs punched out from DBS were analyzed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with cyanoimipramin as internal standard. The method was validated with respect to selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, recovery and stability. The effect of Hct and V(b) on LC-MS/MS analytical result was also investigated. The relationship between MFX concentrations in venous and finger prick DBS and those in plasma was clinically explored. V(est) was highly influenced by Hct while the effect of V(b) appeared to be different among paper types. Calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.05-6.00 mg/L with inter-day and intra-day precisions and biases of less than 11.1%. The recovery was 84.5, 85.1 and 92.6% in response to blood concentration of 0.15, 2.50 and 5.00 mg/L, respectively. A matrix effect of less than 11.9% was observed. MFX in DBS was stable for at least 4 weeks at room condition (temperature of 25°C and humidity of 50%). A large range of Hct value produced a significant analytical bias and it can be corrected with resulting DBS size. A good correlation between DBS and plasma concentrations was observed and comparable results between venous DBS and finger prick DBS was attained. This fully validated method is suitable for determination of MFX in dried blood spot and applicable for TDM.
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