Determination of morphine by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection: application to human and rabbit pharmacokinetic studies.
A rapid, sensitive, precise and accurate high-performance liquid chromatographic assay with coulometric electrochemical detection was developed for the determination of morphine in human, rabbit, pig and dog plasma. It includes a one-step extraction procedure with hexane-isoamyl alcohol (1:1, v/v) at pH 8.9 (adjusted with phosphoric acid) and reversed-phase liquid chromatography on a microPorasil column. The mobile phase was composed of 5 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 3.75)-acetonitrile (25:75, v/v). A flow-rate of 1.2 ml/min at 20 degrees C was used. The working potentials for the electrochemical detector were +0.20 V for detector cell 1, +0.55 V for detector cell 2 and +0.75 V for the guard cell. The limit of detection of morphine was 100 pg/ml of plasma. Repeatability, precision and accuracy were also determined concomitantly. The calibration graphs were linear in the concentration range 0.25-250 ng/ml with correlation coefficients of 0.998+/-0.01 and with a minimum intercept of 0.05+/-0.08. The precision in plasma was acceptable, with coefficients of variation less than 11%. The absolute recoveries of morphine and nalbuphine (internal standard) were between 86 and 89% and independent of morphine concentration. Pharmacokinetics after oral morphine [MST Continus (morphine sulphate tablets) 30 mg, Bard Pharmaceutical, Cambridge, UK] in humans revealed a one-compartment first-order absorption model with one absorption phase and one elimination phase. The absorption and elimination half-lives were 2.46 and 1.80 h, respectively. Pharmacokinetics after intravenous morphine (3 mg/kg) in rabbits showed a linear two-compartment open model with one distribution phase and one elimination phase. The distribution and elimination half-lives were 0.5 and 33.8 h, respectively.
Department of Anesthesiology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center 8, Taipei, Taiwan.
W J
WJ
Liaw
S T
ST
Ho
J J
JJ
Wang
O Y
OY
Hu
J H
JH
Li
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000097:blood*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011817:Rabbits; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D009020:Morphine