Simultaneous determination of rivanol and mifepristone in human plasma by a HPLC-UV method with solid-phase extraction

Determination of Mifepristone (RU-486) and Its Metabolites in Maternal Blood Sample after Pharmacological Abortion

The aim of the study was the development and validation of the UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS method for the determination of mifepristone in human blood as well as the identification and quantification of its metabolites after self-induced pharmacological abortion. The metabolic pathway in humans was proposed after examination of an authentic casework. The fast and simple preanalytical procedure was successfully applied (pH9, tert-butyl-methyl ether). The validation parameters of the method were as follows: limit of quantification: 0.5 ng/mL; coefficients of determination: >0.999 (R2), intra- and inter-day accuracy and precision values did not exceed ± 13.2%. The recovery and matrix effect were in the range of 96.3−114.7% and from −3.0 to 14.7%, respectively. Toxicological analysis of the mother’s blood (collected the day after the pregnancy termination) revealed the presence of five compounds: mifepristone (557.4 ng/mL), N-desmethyl-mifepristone (638.7 ng/mL), 22-OH-mifepristone (176.9 ng/mL), N,N-didesmethyl-mifepristone (144.5 ng/mL) and N-desmethyl-hydroxy-mifepristone (qualitatively). To our knowledge, the study presented in this paper is the first report on the concentrations of mifepristone and its metabolites in maternal blood samples after performing a self-induced abortion. The established UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS method is suitable for forensic toxicological analysis as well as in terms of clinical toxicology in future investigations (examination of pharmacokinetics, bioavailability and metabolism of RU-486).

New stability indicating RP-HPLC-PDA method for determination of mifepristone in bulk and tablet formulation

Background

Mifepristone is progestational and glucocorticoid hormone antagonist. The objective of this study is to develop simple and economical stability indicating RP-HPLC method for the determination of mifepristone in bulk and tablet formulation.

Result

The chromatographic separation was achieved on Qualisil BDS C8 column with mobile phase containing of mixture of Buffer (Potassium dihydrogen ortho phosphate, pH to 3.0 with ortho phosphoric acid) and Organic Solvent (Acetonitrile) 60:40 v/v pumped at flow rate 0.6 mL min−1. The detection of elute was performed using PDA detector at 305 nm. Mifepristone was eluted at 8.67 min. According to international conference on harmonization Q2(R1) guideline, method was validated and shows satisfactory results for accuracy, precision, linearity, ruggedness, robustness, detection limit, quantitation limit. The method indicated to be linear in the series of concentration 3–18 µg mL−1, and correlation coefficient was 0.9997. In acidic, basic, oxidative, thermal, photolytic forced degradation conditions, the peak of degradation product was clearly and well separated from drug peak without any interference in quantitative analysis. This represents stability indicating nature of established method.

Conclusion

The established RP-HPLC method is simple, accurate, specific, precise, robust, rugged, sensitive, and economical in nature which can be utilized for routine analysis of mifepristone in bulk and pharmaceutical formulation.

Self-induced illegal abortion with Rivanol®: A medicolegal-toxicological case report

Approximately during the 30th week of pregnancy, a woman gave birth to a still-born child in a hospital. After first citing an extraneous cause for the premature still-birth, the woman later admitted to having self-induced the abortion by injecting the antiseptic Rivanol^® (active agent: ethacridine lactate) through her abdominal wall into the amniotic cavity. The investigating authorities ordered an autopsy of the fetus along with additional toxicological investigations. To the naked eye, no obvious cause of death was apparent. The main autopsy findings were four skin defects (puncture/stabbing wounds) on the ball of the fetus's left thumb, with slight bleeding around the punctures and into the underlying fatty tissue, and a yellowish discoloration of the fetus's body surface, especially of the umbilical cord and fingernails. On basis of the results, the child would have been viable. Femoral vein blood and urine from the fetus were analyzed for ethacridine, as were an amniotic fluid sample and maternal blood and urine samples, which had been collected as evidence. The concentration of ethacridine in the amniotic fluid was 16mg/l. In the postmortem fetal blood and urine samples, the concentrations were 0.36mg/l and 0.34mg/l, respectively, while concentrations of 0.091mg/l and 0.42mg/l, respectively, were found in the serum and urine samples from the mother. In many countries, foremost in China, ethacridine lactate, to which both mother and child are exposed, is widely used as safe abortion method. Although the ethacridine concentrations found in blood and urine samples of the mother in our case are consistent with published values, we believe to be the first to report postmortem ethacridine concentrations in a fetus. While exposure to ethacridine is not toxicologically relevant for the mother, it is fatal for the fetus because it causes the placental decidua capsularis to separate from the decidua parietalis or decidua placentalis, respectively. Prostaglandins that are then produced induce labor. In medicolegal contexts, the proof for an abortion through the administration of ethacridine lactate lies in the typical yellow discoloration of the fetus in conjunction with the toxicological demonstration of the substance in fetal body fluids, and if possible also in maternal body fluids.

Chitosan-based nanoparticles for improved anticancer efficacy and bioavailability of mifepristone

In addition to its well-known abortifacient effect, mifepristone (MIF) has been used as an anticancer drug for various cancers in many studies with an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of action. However, application of MIF is limited by its poor water solubility and low oral bioavailability. In this work, we developed a drug delivery system based on chitosan nanoparticles (CNs) to improve its bioavailability and anticancer activity. The MIF-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (MCNs) were prepared by convenient ionic gelation techniques between chitosan (Cs) and tripolyphosphate (TPP). The preparation conditions, including Cs concentration, TPP concentration, Cs/MIF mass ratio, and pH value of the TPP solution, were optimized to gain better encapsulation efficiency (EE) and drug loading capacity (DL). MCNs prepared with the optimum conditions resulted in spherical particles with an average size of 200 nm. FTIR and XRD spectra verified that MIF was successfully encapsulated in CNs. The EE and DL of MCNs determined by HPLC were 86.6% and 43.3%, respectively. The in vitro release kinetics demonstrated that MIF was released from CNs in a sustained-release manner. Compared with free MIF, MCNs demonstrated increased anticancer activity in several cancer cell lines. Pharmacokinetic studies in male rats that were orally administered MCNs showed a 3.2-fold increase in the area under the curve from 0 to 24 h compared with free MIF. These results demonstrated that MCNs could be developed as a potential delivery system for MIF to improve its anticancer activity and bioavailability.

Quantitative analysis of RU38486 (mifepristone) by HPLC triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

A sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method was validated for the quantification of RU38486 (mifepristone) in human and murine plasma. The analyte and internal standard (alfaxolone) were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether, resolved on a C18 column using gradient elution with methanol and ammonium acetate and detected after positive electrospray ionization (m/z 430-->372; m/z 333-->297, respectively). Quantification was linear over the range 0.5-500ng (r(2)>0.997), precise and accurate (intra-assay RSD< or =7.2%, RME< or =8.2%; inter-assay RSD< or =15.7% RME< or =10.2%). The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 50pg injected on column, permitting reproducible analysis of RU38486 in small volumes of plasma.