SURAMIN DETERMINATION BY DIRECT SERUM INJECTION

Suramin is an anti-prostatic tumor drug. Due to its narrow therapeutic range and long half life, frequent monitoring is required to minimize toxicity. We describe here a rapid assay to measure suramin levels in serum. Diluted serum samples are injected directly onto an HPLC cartridge column packed with a wide pore packing material (300A) and eluted with 10 mmol/L phosphate buffer, pH 7.2 containing 15% acetonitrile with detection at 325 nm or 254 nm. The analysis is rapid (< 3 min), while the recovery is about 98% with no interference from common drugs.