DETERMINATION OF ARTEETHER IN PLASMA USING A SIMPLE AND RAPID HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ASSAY

A simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay for the determination of the antimalarial drug arteether in plasma was developed and validated in this report. Perchloric acid was used in this method as a plasma protein precipitant and to attain an acidic medium suitable for the decomposition of arteether to a derivative possessing UV absorption. This derivative and the internal standard (progesterone) were separated from the plasma on a 10 mu m mu-Bondapack C-18 reversed-phase column at ambient temperature with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile:water (60:40 v/v) and at a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. The effluent was monitored at 254 nm with a UV detector. Linear relation between drug concentrations and peak height ratios of arteether derivative to the internal standard was achieved in the range of 0.25-10 mu g/ml arteether with a detection limit of 50 ng/ml arteether in plasma. The within-day and between-days precisions were evaluated using 3 different concentrations of arteether. The values of the coefficients of variation were 1.35-1.68% and 1.65-2.82% for within-day and between-day, respectively. This method was applied to determine some pharmacokinetic parameters of arteether after intramuscular injection of 50 mg/kg arteether oily solution to rabbits.