Evaluation of Two Blood Microsampling Approaches for Drug Discovery PK Studies in Rats

Abstract

Background: Serial sampling in discovery rat PK studies could be performed via capillary microsampling (CMS) of blood or by using the Mitra™ device to collect dried blood samples. Results: Blood CMS results were compared with Mitra sampling results for four test compounds dosed in rat PK studies. The PK profiles obtained from CMS sampling were found to be very similar to those obtained from the Mitra sampling. For 15-µl blood CMS samples, freezing before the dilution step was found to be acceptable. Conclusion: Blood CMS using 15-µl glass capillary microsamples works well for serial blood sampling in rat PK studies. The Mitra microsampling device provides an alternative method for collecting 10 µl of blood as a dried blood sample.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors received financial support from Sanofi for this research. All authors (except G Snow) were employees of Sanofi when the described research was conducted. G Snow is an employee of Agilux. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.