IMATINIB QUANTIFICATION IN RAT PLASMA BY HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH ULTRA VIOLET DETECTION - AN APPLICATION TO PRECLINICAL PHARMACOKINETIC STUDY.

Summary A simple and robust method for quantification of imatinib in rat plasma has been established using high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. Mizolastine was used as an internal standard (IS). imatinib and internal standard in plasma sample were extracted using simple protein precipitation technique. The samples were injected into a C18 reverse-phase phenyl column and mobile phase used was acetonitrile – phosphate buffer (pH3.2; 25.0 mM) (24:76%, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min -1 using ultraviolet detector. imatinib and internal standard were detected without any interference from rat plasma. Detection of imatinib in rat plasma by the high performance liquid chromatography method was accurate and precise with a quantitation limit of 20.0 ng mL -1 . The proposed method was validated with linearity range of 20.0 – 10000.0 ng mL -1 . Reproducibility, recovery and stability of the method were evaluated. This method has been successfully applied to pharmacokinetic evaluation of imatinib liposome formulation.