The tubes with blood were centrifuged, the GSK1838705A plasma separated, and all plasma samples were stored in an upright position at −20 °C pending analysis. The stereoselective bioanalysis of warfarin in plasma was done using a validated high pressure liquid chromatography
(HPLC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method. In brief, 300 μL of acetonitrile containing internal standards (deuterated S- and R-warfarin) was added to 100 μL of plasma. Following protein precipitation and centrifugation, 15 μL of the supernatant was injected onto the HPLC system. MI-503 concentration The latter consisted of a C18 pre-column (5 μm, 4 × 3.0 mm; Phenomenex, Aschaffenburg, Germany), a Reprosil Chiral-NR analytical column (8 μm, 125 × 3.0 mm; Dr. Maisch GmbH, Ammerbruch, Germany), a Waters Alliance 2795 pump, degasser, and autosampler selleckchem (Waters, Eschborn, Germany). The columns were eluted with a mixture of methanol:5 mM ammonium acetate pH 4.0 (70:30 v/v) for 11 min. The MS/MS analysis (Quattro LC, Micromass, Wythenshawe, UK) was performed in the positive ionization mode, and the limit of detection was 20 ng/mL for both analytes. For R-warfarin, the inter-day coefficients of variation (imprecision)
were ≤11.0 %, whereas inter-day inaccuracy ranged between −1.1 and 0.6 %. For S-warfarin, imprecision was ≤10.1 %, whereas inter-day inaccuracy ranged between −2.0 and −0.4 %. Blood samples for the determination of factor VII and INR were collected pre-dose, and 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96, 120, and 144 h after dosing with warfarin during both treatment periods in tubes containing citrate as anticoagulant. These samples were put on ice and sent as soon as possible to the local clinical laboratory for analysis. Farnesyltransferase The assay of factor VII was performed by a standard one-stage method on fresh plasma. The results are expressed in percent of the laboratory reference value. The prothrombin
time of each sample was measured using a standard test and then standardized to yield the INR, a fraction that has no unit. In treatment A, blood samples for determination of trough almorexant plasma concentrations were collected pre-dose on days 1–10 and 24 h after the last almorexant dose on day 10 in tubes with EDTA as anticoagulant. Concentrations in plasma were measured using a validated LC–MS/MS assay with a lower limit of quantification of 0.05 ng/mL and imprecision and inaccuracy ≤4.9 and 5.3 %, respectively [14]. 2.4 Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Analyses Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variables were determined by non-compartmental analysis using WinNonlin Professional Version 5.2.1 (Pharsight Corporation, Mountain View, CA, USA).