Simultaneous determination of glimepiride and its metabolites in human plasma by liquid chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometry

Glimepiride, a second-generation sulfonylurea, is a glucose-lowering agent widely used to treat diabetes mellitus. It is converted into metabolite M1 by CYP2C9, and M1 is then transformed into the carboxyl derivative M2 by cytosolic enzymes. In this study, we introduce a sensitive liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method for determining glimepiride, M1, and M2 in human plasma. After simple protein precipitation with acetonitrile, the analytes were chromatographed on a reversed-phase CN column with a mobile phase of 10 mM ammonium acetate aqueous solution and acetonitrile (1:1, v/v). The accuracy and precision of the assay were in accordance with FDA regulations for the validation of bioanalytical methods. This method was used to measure the concentrations of glimepiride, M1, and M2 in plasma after a single oral 2-mg dose of glimepiride in volunteers.