title: High-performance liquid chromatography method using ultraviolet detection for the quantification of aripiprazole and dehydroaripiprazole in psychiatric patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aripiprazole (ARI) is an antipsychotic drug that is metabolized to dehydroaripiprazole (DARI) by CYP2D6. Because of the large interindividual variability in ARI and DARI plasma concentrations, therapeutic drug monitoring may be of use in psychiatric patients during treatment with ARI. The aim of the present study was to develop a simple and reliable method for the quantitative determination of ARI and DARI in plasma using liquid-liquid extraction and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet (UV) detection. The method was tested in psychiatric patients during regular treatment with ARI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Separation was by the liquid-liquid method, and UV detection at 254 nm. Linear responses for ARI and DARI were obtained between 2 and 1000 ng/mL, and precision assays were lower than 10.4 for both analytes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lower limit of quantification and detection were 1 and 0.38 ng/mL for ARI and 0.78 and 0.44 ng/mL for DARI, respectively. The method was successfully applied to plasma samples drawn from 22 patients with concentrations ranging between 2 and 189 ng/mL for ARI and between 11 and 359 ng/mL for DARI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The chromatographic method developed has been demonstrated to be sensitive and reliable for the measurement of ARI and DARI simultaneously in human plasma, and the present method represents an alternative procedure to evaluate plasma concentration in patients during treatment with ARI.
authors.affiliation: Extremadura University Hospital amd Medical School, Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dorado
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Andrés
authors.forename: María Eugenia G
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Naranjo
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Peñas-Lledó
authors.forename: Idilio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Antonio P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de la Rubia
authors.forename: Adrián
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Llerena
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000068180:Aripiprazole; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010879:Piperazines / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015363:Quinolones / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010879:Piperazines; D015363:Quinolones; C517414:dehydroaripiprazole; D000068180:Aripiprazole