Abstract: AIM: To establish an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method to determine the distribution of deuterosuccinylcholine chloride (2H-Suc) in rats.  METHODS: After subcutaneous injection of 2H-Suc for 4 hours, contents of 2H-Suc in serum and related organs were determined by UPLC-MS/MS. A Luna NH2 column (2 mm×100 mm, 3 μm) was used for chromatography assay, the mobile phase was 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution-acetonitrile isolution, the flow rate was 0.2 mL/min; an electrospray ionization source was used to measure 2H-Suc in multi-reaction monitoring mode via positive ionization; the linear relationship, detection limit, accuracy and precision, recovery rate, matrix effect and stability of this method were investigated. RESULTS: The detection limit of Suc was 0.04 ng/mL in serum and 0.05 ng/mL in renal tissue, respectively; range of linear relationship was 0.3-100 ng/mL in serum and 0.5-100 ng/mL in renal tissue; intraday and interday precision and accuracy were less than 15%, the recovery was between 85.30%-96.76%, and there was no obvious matrix effect in the treated samples; 2H-Suc was detected in serum, heart, liver, kidney and other organs of rats subjected to subcutaneous injection of 2H-suc for 4 h, and the highest content was found in kidney. CONCLUSION: UPLC-MS /MS analysis is an effective and reliable method for detecting 2H-Suc in rats. Heart, liver, kidney and other tissues are main organs distributed with 2H-Suc and its content in the kidney is the highest in rat. 

Key words: ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, deuterosuccinylcholine chloride, rat, distribution, kidney