title: Simplified high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of citalopram and desmethylcitalopram in serum without interference from commonly used psychotropic drugs and their metabolites.
abstract: A simplified method for the determination of racemic citalopram and its main metabolite desmethylcitalopram in serum using HPLC was developed. The compounds were extracted with heptane-isoamyl alcohol (98:2) and subsequently transferred into phosphate buffer pH 2.5 for direct injection into the HPLC apparatus. The analytes were separated with an acetonitrile-phosphate buffer, pH 2.5-tetraethylamine mobile phase on a C18 column and measured by UV detection at 240 nm. Within the typical range of serum concentrations (30-100 ng/ml) the inter-day variation was < 6% for both compounds. Possible analytical interference from a number of commonly coadministered psychoactive drugs and their metabolites was studied by extracting sera from patients receiving these drugs. Interference was not a problem for the developed method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychiatry, Psychiatric Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark.
authors.forename: O V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Olesen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Linnet
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D015283:Citalopram / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000097:blood; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000097:blood*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D015283:Citalopram; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; C046304:desmethylcitalopram