title: A simple and cost-effective HPLC-UV method for the detection of levetiracetam in plasma/serum of patients with epilepsy.
abstract: A simple, fast and cost-effective method was developed and validated for the determination of levetiracetam (LEV) in plasma/serum of patients using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet detection. The stability of LEV plasma/serum samples over time and in different blood collection tubes was evaluated. Serum/plasma samples were deproteinized by methanol spiked with the internal standard, gabapentin. HPLC was carried out on a Venusil XBP C18, 250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm column, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and with mobile phase consisting of 50 mm potassium dihydrogen phosphate-acetonitrile at a pH of 5.5. The UV detector was set at 205 nm and 10 μL was injected. Total runtime was 15 min. Calibration curves were linear (correlation coefficient = 0.999) over a concentration range of 1-60 μg/mL. Relative standard deviation values for both the inter-day and intra-day precision and accuracy were <5% for the concentration range. The influence of different collection tubes and the effect of time on the stability of LEV was investigated. These factors may cause inaccuracies owing to drug-protein binding and interference in the matrix. This method is simple, fast, cost-effective, reliable and accurate with minimal sample preparation for daily routine use in therapeutic drug monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacokinetic Laboratory, School of Pharmacy (Pharmacology), North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0389-1905
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engelbrecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Grobler
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacokinetic Laboratory, School of Pharmacy (Pharmacology), North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
authors.forename: Malie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rheeders
mesh_terms: D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D004355:Drug Stability; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D057230:Limit of Detection; D016014:Linear Models; D010889:Piracetam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D010889:Piracetam
keywords: HPLC; different blood collection tubes; epilepsy; human plasma/serum; levetiracetam