Determination of Adriamycin and Aclacinomycin a in Plasma by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Spectrophot of Luorometry

Determination of adriamycin and its fluorescent metabolites in human plasma by HPLC

We describe a method for measuring adriamycin and its metabolites, adriamycinol and adriamycinone in plasma, using reversed phase HPLC and fluorescence detection. The lower limit of detection is approximately 1 ng/mL for each compound. An extraction technique for serum is described which is capable of an almost equal recovery (greater than 93%) of adriamycin and metabolites without interference from endogenous components of plasma and from other common drugs. Within-day and day to day coefficients of variation are estimated.

Anthracycline antitumour agents. A review of physicochemical, analytical and stability properties

A review of physicochemical and analytical properties of anthracycline antitumour agents is presented. The following subjects are discussed: protolytic equilibria, partition and partition coefficients, self-association, adsorptive properties, metal complexation, spectroscopy and chromatography. Furthermore, the stability of anthracyclines in solutions, in pharmaceutical preparations and in biological media is discussed.

Drug level monitoring: cytostatics

The present review on the quantification of cytostatic drugs has mainly been focussed on chromatographic techniques. Special attention has been paid to the precautions that have to be taken into account to ensure the selectivity and accuracy of the various methods. The various cytostatics that have been dealt with are: alkylating agents, antimetabolites, vinca alkaloids, antibiotics, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, podophyllotoxine derivatives, and nitrosoureas.

Improved high-performance liquid chromatography assay of doxorubicin: detection of circulating aglycones in human plasma and comparison with thin-layer chromatography

We compared doxorubicin and metabolite pharmacokinetic data obtained from thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay of plasma samples from six patients who had been treated with doxorubicin. Duplicate 1-ml samples were extracted with chloroform: isopropanol (1:1) and assayed using a sensitive HPLC system incorporating a dual pump gradient with tetrahydrofuran as the mobile phase and fluorescence detection. Duplicate 1-ml samples from the same specimens were assayed using a modification of a previously described TLC assay. Areas under the curve for doxorubicin by HPLC (3.36 +/- 2.30 microM X h) and TLC (4.16 +/- 2.50 microM X h) were not significantly different (P = 0.5). Terminal half-life of doxorubicin by HPLC (28.0 +/- 6.98 h) and TLC (23.2 +/- 7.8) (P = 0.29) and the calculated total-body clearances by HPLC (0.55 +/- 0.29 l/min) and TLC (0.45 +/- 0.23) (P = 0.55) were not significantly different. Areas under the curve for doxorubicinol by HPLC (2.75 +/- 1.4 microM X h) and TLC (2.53 +/- 7.1 microM X h) (P = 0.73) showed no significant differences. HPLC detected a mixed 7-deoxydoxorubicinol aglycone-doxorubicin aglycone peak, 7-deoxydoxorubicin aglycone, and two nonpolar, unidentified metabolites. TLC detected the following aglycone metabolites: doxorubicin aglycone, doxorubicinol aglycone, 7-deoxydoxorubicinol aglycone, an unidentified polar metabolite, and several unidentified nonpolar metabolites. From these data we conclude that HPLC and TLC detect concentrations of doxorubicin and doxorubicinol from human plasma equally well to concentrations of 7.0 nM (4 pmol injected doxorubicin). Aglycones do circulate in human plasma at concentrations above the detection limits of both assays. Doxorubicinol aglycone, which is detected by TLC but not by HPLC, may be formed from artifactual breakdown of doxorubicinol during TLC development. Unidentified nonpolar compounds seen on HPLC and TLC may represent further doxorubicin metabolism than previously described.

Fate of aclacinomycin-A and its metabolites effect on cell growth and macromolecular synthesis

The relationship between the structure and activity of aclacinomycin-A (ACM) metabolites was investigated in vitro in Friend leukaemia cells (FLC). The cytotoxic effect was related to the ease with which ACM and its metabolites accumulate in the nucleus. Cellular uptake and nuclear incorporation are influenced by the hexopyranoses linked to aklavinone (AKV) and by the two methyls linked to the L-rhodosamine amino groups. The effect of ACM and its metabolites on macromolecular synthesis depended on the drug concentrations and the exposure time. ACM was the most active in the inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis whereas it had no direct effect on protein synthesis even at high drug concentrations. When cells were treated for a short time with low drug concentrations (1 microM), RNA synthesis was inhibited to a greater extent than DNA synthesis. But when incubated for longer periods, inhibition of DNA synthesis increased further. RNA and DNA syntheses were both inhibited to about the same extent only when cells were exposed to the higher drug concentrations (10 microM). We conclude therefore that at low drug concentrations the effect on DNA synthesis is probably a consequence of RNA synthesis inhibition. The early DNA synthesis inhibition which occurs at higher drug concentrations may result from the direct action on the cellular genome.

Quantitation of adriamycin in plasma and urine: Comparative study of radioimmunoassay and high-performance liquid chromatography methods

The response of tumours to adriamycin, and the cardiotoxicity of the drug, may be related to its pharmacokinetics and plasma levels. Rapid and sensitive methods of adriamycin determination in plasma and urine samples are thus needed. A comparative study shows that high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection is a reliable and specific method, but it is relatively slow and sometimes lacks sensitivity. A commercially-available radioimmunoassay kit is convenient, but there is a cross reaction with the major metabolise adriamycinol and unless the assay is combined with an extraction step, it gives erroneously high results.

Quantitation of daunorubicin, doxorubicin, and their aglycones by ion-pair reversed-phase chromatography

A fast and sensitive high-pressure liquid chromatographic method was developed for the quantitation of doxorubicin, daunorubicin, and their aglycones in pharmaceutical preparations. Because its higher pH extends column life while permitting determination of impurities, this system represents an improvement over previously published methods. It utilizes a C18 bonded silica gel column and a solvent system consisting of methanol-0.01 M monobasic ammonium phosphate aqueous solution (65:35) at pH 4.0 and 1600 psi of pressure. The accuracy of the doxorubicin and daunorubicin determinations, expressed as the coefficient of variation, is 1.65 and 1.27% respectively. The aglycones can be determined with a precision of less than 1.3%.

Anthracycline assay by high-pressure liquid chromatography

A general method of analysis of anthracycline concentrations was developed. Drug is extracted from plasma with organic solvent and separated from metabolites by high-pressure liquid chromatography on an aminocyanosilica column. Detection and quantitation are by the endogenous fluorescence of compounds having an intact tetracyclic ring structure. Limits of sensitivity are 5, 1, and 5 ng/ml of plasma for doxorubicin, carubicin, and marcellomycin, respectively. The assay can be used for studying the aldo-keto reductase and reductive glycosidase reactions with anthracyclines as the substrates and for the evaluation of the clinical pharmacology or pharmacodynamics of various doxorubicin analogs.