SULFALENE CONCENTRATIONS IN PLASMA AND BLOOD-CELLS OF PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM MALARIA CASES AFTER TREATMENT WITH METAKELFIN USING HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method using acetonitrile-methanol-1 M perchloric acid-water (25:9:0.8:95, v/v/v) a t a flow-rate of 1.0 mi min(-1) on LiChrospher 100 RP 18 column (250x4 mm; 5 mu m) with UV (254 nm) detection has been developed for the det ermination of sulfalene in plasma and blood calls after oral administr ation of the antimalarial drug metakelfin. Calibration curves were lin ear in the range 0.5-100 mu g ml(-1). The limit of quantification was 50 ng ml(-1). Within-day and day-to-day coefficients of variation aver aged 3.84 and 5.31%, respectively. Mean extraction recoveries of sulfa lene from plasma and blood cells were 87.21 and 84.65%, respectively. Mean concentrations of sulfalene in plasma of P. falciparum cases on d ays 2, 7 and 15 were 44.58, 14.90 and 1.70 mu g ml(-1), respectively; in blood cells concentrations of sulfalene were 7.77, 3.25 and 0.75 mu g ml(-1), respectively, after oral treatment with two tablets (1000 m g) of metakelfin. Significant difference was recorded on day 2 for sul falene concentration in blood cells of healthy and P. falciparum cases (t=9.49; P<0.001). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .