Determination of methylnaltrexone in clinical samples by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography for a pharmacokinetics study

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with electrochemical detection and solid-phase extraction (SPE) using cartridges of weak cation-exchange capacity as the primary retention mechanism is described for the separation and determination of methylnaltrexone (MNTX) in small clinical samples of plasma or urine. The procedure was performed using a Phenomenex Prodigy ODS-2, 5 mum, 150 x 3.2 turn analytical column and 50 mM potassium acetate buffer, with 11% methanol as organic modifier at pH* 4.5 at a flow-rate of 0.5 ml/min. The detection potential was 700 mV. The six-point standard calibration curves were linear over three consecutive days in the range from 2 to 100 ng/ml. The average goodness of fit (r) was 0.9993. The lower limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 2.0 and 5.0 ng/ml, respectively. At the LOQ, the coefficient of variation for the entire method was 8.0% and the accuracy was 10.0% (n = 10). Recovery of the drug from plasma was in the region of 94%. The method was applied to a pharmacokinetics study of methylnaltrexone after subcutaneous administration and in numerous assays of analytes in blood plasma and urine. The pharmacokinetics parameters for a single dose of 0.1 or 0.3 mg/kg in plasma were C-max = 110 ( 55) and 287 ( 101) ng/ml and t(max) = 16.7 (+/-10.8) and 20.0 (+/-9.5) min, respectively. The method is simple, yet sensitive for the detection and determination of methylnaltrexone in biological samples at the level of the physiological response. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.