Optimization for detection of flunarizine by high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray/mass spectrometry.

This paper describes a newly developed high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray/mass spectrometry (HPLC/ES/MS) method for the determination of flunarizine (FZ) in artificial cerebrospinal fluid. The optimization for the detection of FZ in biological fluid by LC/ES/MS was investigated. The effects of solvent composition, the addition of modifier and flow rate on the detection of FZ by ES/MS were examined. The detection limit of this method ( approximately 0.8 nM) proved to be much better than previously reported methods. Satisfactory accuracy (98.2-106.0%) of this newly developed method was obtained. The application of this method was demonstrated by analyzing FZ in rat microdialysis samples.