DETERMINATION OF APOVINCAMINIC ACID IN HUMAN PLASMA BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

An isocratic high-performance liquid chromatographic method is describ ed for the quantitative analysis of low concentrations of apovincamini c acid (AVA) in blood plasma. AVA. interfering plasma components and p rimidone (used as the internal standard) were separated on a reversed- phase column of LiChrospher 60 RP-Select B (125 mm x 3 mm i.d.; 5 mu m ) (Merck). A UV-Vis detector was used at a wavelength of 254 nm. Each chromatographic separation was completed in 14 min and the results sho wed a relative recovery which varied between 95.9 and 116%, a good ove rall precision (relative standard deviation, 7.00%) and sensitivity ov er a linear range of 5.00-300 ng ml(-1) (R = 0.999) for AVA in plasma. The method was applied to the analysis of plasma samples obtained fro m healthy subjects treated with one single oral dose of 20 mg of vinpo cetine. The results indicate the method to be suitable for pharmacokin etic studies.