Simultaneous Determination of Propylene Glycol, Glycerol and Lactic Acid in Rat Plasma and Serum by Gas Chromatography–mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A simple and rapid gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric (GC–MS) method using selected ion monitoring mode was developed for simultaneous determination of propylene glycol, glycerol and lactic acid in rat plasma and serum. The method employed a single-step derivatization using bis(N,O-trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide with trimethylchlorosilane and required only a small amount of plasma or serum (100 μL). The calibration curves showed linearity with the correlation coefficients of 0.996–0.999. To validate the method, the intra- and inter-day repeatability of the proposed method in rat plasma was evaluated. Recovery was assessed by the standard addition method. To test the applicability of the method, twenty plasma samples in two different time points were analyzed and levels of both propylene glycol and lactic acid in plasma were found to increase after exposure to the propylene glycol aerosol (500 mg/kg). With satisfactory repeatability and recovery the proposed GC–MS method can be successfully applied for analysis of plasma and serum samples.