Rapid determination of ranitidine in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography

An HPLC method has been developed for the quantification of ranitidine in plasma for pharmacokinetic studies. Metoclopramide was used as internal standard. The method uses a simple and rapid sample clean-up procedure involving single-step extraction with organic solvent to extract ranitidine from plasma. After evaporation and reconstitution the samples are chromatographed on a 250 mm x 4 mm base-stable reversed-phase column with 0.05 M ammonium acetate-acetonitriie, 75:25 (v/v) as mobile phase and UV detection at 313 nm. The calibration graph was linear for quantities of ranitidine between 10 and 2000 ng mL(-1). Intra- and inter-day CV did not exceed 11.64 %. The quantitation limit was 10 ng mL(-1) for human plasma. The applicability of this method for pharmacokinetic studies of ranitidine after oral administration are described. Approximately 90 samples can be processed in 24 h.