Simultaneous determination of allopurinol, oxipurinol and uric acid in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple method for quantification of allopurinol and oxipurinol in human serum by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV-detection

OBJECTIVES

Allopurinol is a uric acid lowering drug used in the treatment of gout and the prevention of tumor lysis syndrome. Allopurinol and its active metabolite oxipurinol inhibit xanthine oxidase, which forms uric acid from xanthine and hypoxanthine. Therapeutic drug monitoring is an important option for evaluation and optimization of allopurinol treatment in case of renal impairment, interaction with uricosuric drugs or to verify patient adherence. In this study we developed and validated a simple quantitative assay using reverse phased high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV-detection as a method for quantification of allopurinol and oxipurinol in human serum in the presence of different frequently used drugs.

METHODS

The HPLC-UV method uses a mobile phase consisting of sodium acetate (0.02 M; pH 4.5), at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Allopurinol and oxipurinol are detected by UV-absorption at 254 nm with a retention time of 9.9 min for oxipurinol and 12.3 min for allopurinol. Aciclovir is used as internal standard.

RESULTS

Validation showed for allopurinol lower and upper limits of quantification of 0.5 and 10mg/L and for oxipurinol 1 and 40 mg/L, respectively. The assay was linear over the concentration range of 0.5-10mg/L (allopurinol) and 1-40 mg/L (oxipurinol). Intra- and inter-day precision showed coefficients of variation <15% over the complete concentration range; accuracy was within 5% for allopurinol and oxipurinol. Endogenous purine-like compounds were separated from allopurinol, oxipurinol and aciclovir with a resolution factor >1.5. Exogenous purine-like compounds and co-medication frequently used by gout patients did not hinder the analysis due to the dichloromethane washing step or to low UV-absorpion at 253 nm. Serum levels of 66 patients prescribed allopurinol 300 mg/day were determined using this HPLC-UV method. Measured serum allopurinol and oxipurinol concentrations in clinical practice showed large variability with a range of <0.5-4.3 mg/L for allopurinol and <1.0-39.2 mg/L for oxipurinol, respectively.

CONCLUSION

We developed an easy-to-operate and validated HPLC-UV method for the quantification of allopurinol and oxipurinol in human serum. This method was proven to be valid for samples of gout patients frequently using concomitant medications.

Facile and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous determination of allopurinol and oxypurinol in human serum

OBJECTIVE

To develop a rapid and sensitive assay for the simultaneous determination of allopurinol and oxypurinol in serum.

METHOD

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV-detection. Sample preparation consists of protein precipitation by an addition of trichloracetic acid.

RESULTS

Percentage recovery and intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV%) for allopurinol were 97.4-101.3 and 0.66-5.13, respectively, in the concentration range 0.5-5.0 microg/mL. For oxypurinol, the percentage recovery and the intra-assay CV% were 93.2-98.1 and 0.88-5.62, respectively, in the concentration ranges 0.4-20 microg/mL. There was no interference of endogenous compounds in this assay.

CONCLUSION

This method is useful for routine therapeutic drug monitoring of allopurinol in a clinical setting.

Application of a novel 1,1'-dimethylferricinium dye for the determination of uric acid in urine

Water-soluble 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (Hp-beta-CyD), a cyclic and nonreducing oligosaccharide was used to enclose a hydrophobic guest molecule 1,1'-dimethylferrocene (DMF) to form a water-soluble yellow complex. At high concentrations (300 mM), Hp-beta-CyD enclosed up to 100 mM DMF. The yellow complex was electrochemically oxidized (platinum vs Ag/AgCl poised at +450 mV) to form a blue dye, 1,1'-dimethylferricinium (DMF+). This is a one-electron transfer process and the ferricinium cation formed exhibited an absorption peak at 650 nm. The concentrated DMF+ was stable for at least 4 mo at 4 degrees C and insensitive to a wide pH variation (pH 2-11). Application of the novel DMF+ complex as a colorimetric dye for the determination of uric acid in urine was successfully demonstrated. The reaction between the dye and uric acid is almost instantaneous and decrease in absorbance caused by the reduction of 1,1'-dimethylferricinium to 1,1'-dimethylferrocene can be followed at 650 nm. The results obtained agreed well with those of the reference reversed-phase HPLC method.

A candidate reference method for the determination of uric acid in serum based on high performance liquid chromatography, compared with an isotope dilution-gas chromatography-mass spectrometer method

A method based on isocratic high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection at 292 nm is proposed as a candidate reference method for the determination of uric acid. Data obtained by this method are compared with those from an isotope dilution-gas chromatography-mass spectrometric method (ID-GC-MS), using [1,3-15N2]uric acid as internal standard and selected mass detection at m/z = 456 and m/z = 458. The inaccuracy of the ID-GC-MS method is maximally 0.4% for NBS-SRM-909 control sera with a concentration of 483 mumol/l. The coefficient of variation between days is 0.26%-0.80% and 0.37-0.90% for 14 control sera from other suppliers. The maximum bias of the HPLC method is 0.6%, and the coefficient of variation between days is 0.31%-0.65% for NBS-SRM-909 control sera. The coefficient of variation between days for the other 14 control sera tested is 0.35%-0.66%. Comparison of the HPLC method with the reference ID-GC-MS method resulted in a coefficient of correlation of r = 0.9998 (n = 14). The concentration of uric acid in the tested control sera ranged from 160 to 624 mumol/l.

Isocratic high-performance liquid chromatographic method for studying the metabolism of blood plasma pyrimidine nucleosides and bases: concentration and radioactivity measurements

A rapid and efficient isocratic high-performance liquid chromatographic method for studying the metabolism of blood plasma cytosine, uracil, thymine, cytidine, deoxycytidine and uridine has been elaborated. For each compound this method can measure concentrations in the range 0.5-200 microM and determine radioactivity. All the pyrimidine compounds can be eluted in less than 18 min, and the total time elapsed between collection of the blood and completion of the analysis need not exceed 3 h. All measurements can be performed on 0.025-ml blood samples. Blood plasma pyrimidine concentrations were determined for the rat, the rabbit, the guinea pig, the dog and the healthy human. This method could be well applied to experimentation on small animals using radiolabelled pyrimidine derivatives, in order to study the metabolic pathways of nucleotides and nucleic acids. It could also be used to characterize certain illnesses or cases of toxicity created by a chemotherapy affecting the plasma level of pyrimidine bases or nucleosides.

Allopurinol: a comparative study of the bioavailability and effect on plasma uric acid of two products in tablet form

A comparative bioavailability study was carried out with two allopurinol products, i.e. Allopurinol tablets 100 mg, DAK, and Apurin tablets 100 mg, Gea. Eleven healthy volunteers participated and were given a single dose of 200 mg of each product according to the cross-over principle. The bioavailability was evaluated with respect to the maximum plasma concentration, the peak time, and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve for allopurinol and the major metabolite oxipurinol. The elimination half-life of oxipurinol was also estimated. None of the parameters showed statistically significant differences (p greater than 0.10) between the two products. Furthermore, the pharmacodynamic effect of the two products was examined with respect to the reduction of plasma uric acid within 24 hours after administration of 200 mg allopurinol. The two products did not differ significantly (p greater than 0.10) in this respect. It is concluded that the two tablet products are bioequivalent.

High-performance liquid chromatography with polarographic and voltammetric anodic detection: simultaneous determination of allopurinol, oxipurinol and uric acid in body fluids

Allopurinol, oxipurinol and uric acid have been determined in human serum and urine by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. In particular the use of a polarographic detector operating in the oxidative mode, whose principle of detection is based on the property of allopurinol, oxipurinol and uric acid to form insoluble anodic films on mercury, is described. The performance of such a detector is compared with that of a glassy carbon wall-jet detector. Different procedures for sample pretreatment have been evaluated.