High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of etretinate and all-trans- and 13-cis-acitretin in human plasma.
A high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure is described for the simultaneous determination of etretinate (Tigason), all-trans-acitretin (Neotigason) and 13-cis-acitretin in human plasma. The compounds are extracted from the plasma with n-hexane under acidic conditions. Quantification is performed on a normal-phase column (CP-Spher Si, 5 microns), followed by UV detection at 350 nm. The limit of quantification is 3 ng/ml. The day-to-day precision was 6.7, 13.6 and 9.1% for etretinate (means = 53 ng/ml), all-trans-acitretin (means = 95 ng/ml) and 13-cis-acitretin (means = 149 ng/ml), respectively (n = 13 for each compound). The within-day precision of nine determinations was 3.2, 11.7 and 6.5%, respectively, with mean concentrations of 128.53 and 261 ng/ml, respectively. The method was also applied to the study of the long-term pharmacokinetic behaviour of etretinate in psoriatic patients previously treated with etretinate but now on therapy with all-trans-acitretin.
De Leenheer
A P
AP
Laboratoria voor Medische Biochemie en voor Klinische Analyse, Ghent, Belgium.
Lambert
W E
WE
De Bersaques
J P
JP
Kint
A H
AH
D017255:Acitretin; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005050:Etretinate / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood
D014212:Tretinoin; D005050:Etretinate; D017255:Acitretin