THERAPEUTIC DRUG-MONITORING BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

Because of the ease of analysis and the high resolution, drug analysis is becoming the best example for the application of capillary electro phoresis. Therapeutic drug monitoring is a specialized area of drug an alysis performed in clinical laboratories for patient care. CE offers high resolution and speed with the low operating costs needed in patie nt care. However, CE has a few limitations, mainly poor detection limi ts and precision. Simple methods of stacking, which enhance drug detec tion to overcome the poor sensitivity of CE are stressed. Serum has a unique matrix with a high content of proteins and salts which can have adverse effects on separation by CE. For successful analysis, special maneuvers are employed to decrease these matrix effects. Studies that have addressed the improvement of the precision of CE are summarized. CE offers the possibility of bringing chiral separations into the rou tine arena. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.