Determination of 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl Coenzyme A Reductase Inhibitor Activity by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

A HPLC method was established for the determination of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor activity in vitro by measuring the concentration of beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide 2'-phosphate reduced tetrasodium salt (NADPH) in the system. The chromatographic conditions were as follows: Hypersil C-18 column; phosphate liquor (pH 7.2) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min, column temperature of 25 degrees C, detection wavelength of 337 nm. An excellent linearity over the range of 0.5 - 100 mu mol/L (r = 0.9995) was observed. The detection limit was 0.01 mu mol/L, and the recovery rate of beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide 2'-phosphate reduced tetrasodium salt (NADPH) was 99.8% - 100.7% with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.0% - 1.3% (n = 5).