High-throughput cytochrome P450 (CYP) inhibition screening via a cassette probe-dosing strategy. V. Validation of a direct injection/on-line guard cartridge extraction--tandem mass spectrometry method for CYP1A2 inhibition assessment.

An efficient direct injection/on-line guard cartridge extraction-tandem mass spectrometry (DI/GCE--MS--MS) method has been validated for high-throughput evaluation of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2 inhibition potential using human hepatic microsomes and 96-well microtiter plates. Microsomal incubations were terminated with formic acid, centrifuged, and the resulting supernatants were injected for DI/GCE--MS--MS analysis. Due to the use of an extremely short C(18) guard cartridge, this method offers several advantages such as no sample preparation, excellent on-line extraction, short run time and minimal source contamination and performance deterioration. The DI/GCE--MS--MS method demonstrates acceptable accuracy and precision for the quantification of resorufin, a marker metabolite of ethoxyresorufin mediated by CYP1A2, in microsomal incubations. The inhibition potential of CYP1A2 has been evaluated using its selective inhibitors, alpha-naphthoflavone and furafylline. The IC(50) values (120 nM for alpha-naphthoflavone and 5.1 microM for furafylline) measured by the new method are in agreement with the literature values.