Development of a simple method for simultaneous determination of tazarotene and betamethasone dipropionate and their metabolites using LC-MS method and its application to dermatopharmacokinetic study

In our study, a method for the determination for tazarotene and betamethasone dipropionate in human tissue-engineered skin was established. Tazarotene gel, betamethasone dipropionate cream or a combination cream was administered to the skin. Then the skin was taken off at 0.25, 0.75, 1.75, 3, 5, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48 h time points after the residual drug was removed. The concentrations of tazarotene, betamethasone dipropionate and their major metabolites in skin were determined by LC-MS. Tazarotene and tazarotenic acid were detected in the concentration range of 2-200 mu g/mL with an LLOQ of 2 mu g/mL. Betamethasone dipropionate was detected in the concentration range 0.5-300 mu g/mL with an LLOQ of 0.5 mu g/mL, and betamethasone was detected at 2-200 mu g/mL with an LLOQ of 2 mu g/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions of the four analytes in the skin homogenate were all <15% (RSD, %). The results showed that tazarotene could be metabolized to tazarotenic acid and betamethasone dipropionate could be metabolized to betamethasone in tissue-engineered skin. The results also revealed that this method was suitable for the simultaneous determination of tazarotene, betamethasone dipropionate and their metabolites in tissue-engineered skin.