Simple High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for the Analysis of Quinine in Human Plasma without Extraction

Abstract

A simple, rapid and sensitive assay, capable of quantitating quinine (Q) in human plasma samples is reported. The assay uses a reversed-phase C18 HPLC column packed with 5 μ ODS Hypersil. The chromatographic separation was accomplished with an isocratic mobile phase comprising acetonitrile-aqueous phosphate buffer pH 2 (50:50, v/v) containing 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate and 3 mM tetrabutylammonium bromide at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. The eluant was monitored by a fluorescence detector (excitation wavelength at 350 nm and emission wavelength at 450 nm). The assay was based on a simple plasma protein precipitation technique. To 200 μ of plasma sample, 400 μ of internal standard (cinchocaine 30 μ/ml in methanol) was added. After brief vortexing and centrifugation, the clear supernatant was injected onto the HPLC column. The inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation were found to be less than 10%. The lowest limit of detection for Q in plasma was 18 ng/ml.