The study of metabolite-to-parent drug ratios of methamphetamine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine in hair

The metabolite-to-parent drug ratios were determined in the hair of 2444 methamphetamine (MA) abusers who had produced MA-positive hair results from 2001 to May 2005 and in the hair of 53 ecstasy abusers who had produced positive methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) hair results from 2002 to May 2005. For the hair analyses, hair strands were washed, cut into small pieces and extracted for 20 h in 1 mL methanol containing 1% HCl. Drugs in the extract were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using selective ion monitoring after derivatization with trifluoroacetic anhydride. The six range groups were divided as follows on the basis of MA concentrations in hair (n = 2389): 0.5-5 ng/mg (n = 950), 5-10 ng/mg (n = 582), 10-20 ng/mg (n = 503), 20-30 ng/mg (n = 160), 30-40 ng/mg (n = 80), more than 40 ng/mg (n = 114) to assess the correlations between MA concentrations and metabolite-to-parent drug ratios. In groups of higher MA concentrations, lower ratios of AP/MA were found, and there was a statistically significant difference among six range groups. Comparisons of age groups (tens, twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, and sixties) and male and female subjects for the ratios of AP/MA showed a statistically significant difference. The detection of metabolites and the parent drug with reasonable ratios was found to be a useful indicator for distinguishing internal drug incorporation from external contamination. In our study, MA users can produce 0.4-116% (mean = 9%) of amphetamine (AP) concentrations in hair, and ecstasy users 1-110% (mean = 12%) of methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) in appropriately washed hair samples.

Automated determination of reboxetine by high-performance liquid chromatography with column-switching and ultraviolet detection

A fully automated method including column-switching and isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for quantitative analysis of the new antidepressant reboxetine, a noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor. After serum injection into the HPLC system and on-line sample clean-up on a silica C8 (10x4.0 mm I.D.) clean-up column with an eluent consisting of 2.5% acetonitrile in deionized water, the chromatographic separation was performed on an analytical column (Lichrospher CN; 250x4.6 mm I.D.) with an eluent of acetonitrile-aqueous potassium phosphate buffer (0.008 M, pH 6.4) (50:50). The UV detector was set at 273 or 226 nm. The limit of quantification was about 15 ng/ml at 273 nm and about 4 ng/ml at 226 nm. The day-to-day relative standard deviation ranged between 2.7 and 6.7% with recovery rates > or = 90%. Linear regression analyses revealed correlation coefficients > 0.998. The method can be applied to therapeutic drug monitoring of reboxetine as well as pharmacokinetic studies.

Determination of the enantiomer and positional isomer impurities in atomoxetine hydrochloride with liquid chromatography using polysaccharide chiral stationary phases

A normal-phase isocratic chiral liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for atomoxetine hydrochloride. In addition to the S-enantiomer of atomoxetine, the conditions separate both para and meta positional isomers and the phenyl des-methyl analog. Method development strategies included (a) evaluation of polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases with nonaqueous mobile phases, (b) the use of an octyl stationary phase with a sulfated-beta-cyclodextrin mobile phase additive, and (c) capillary electrophoresis using a single isomer heptakis-6-sulfato-beta-cyclodextrin modifier. All three approaches yielded acceptable conditions for the separation of atomoxetine from related molecules with the former fully validated and the latter two held as alternatives if needed. The final method conditions employing a Chiralcel OD-H column and mobile phase of hexane/IPA/DEA/TFA (85/15/0.15/0.2, v/v/v/v) at 1.0 mL/min have been fully validated with acceptable specificity, linearity, accuracy, repeatability, intermediate precision and quantitation limit.

Sweat testing for the detection of atomoxetine from paediatric patients with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder: application to clinical practice

Atomoxetine (ATX) is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor approved since 2002 for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, adolescents, and adults as an alternative treatment to methylphenidate. Within the framework of a project evaluating the use of alternative biological matrices for therapeutic monitoring of psychoactive drugs in paediatric and non-paediatric individuals, the excretion of ATX and its principal metabolites has been recently studied in oral fluid and hair. The aim of this study was to describe the excretion profile of ATX and its metabolites 4-hydroxyatomoxetine (4-OH-ATX) and N-desmethylatomoxetine (N-des-ATX) in sweat following the administration of different dosage regimens (60, 40, 35, and 18 mg/day) of ATX to six paediatric patients. Sweat patches were applied to the back of each participant and removed at timed intervals. ATX and its metabolites were measured in patches using a previously validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method. Independently from the administered dose, ATX appeared in the sweat patches 1 h post administration and reached its maximum concentration generally at 24 h. Peak ATX concentrations ranged between 2.31 and 40.4 ng/patch and did not correlate with the administered drug dose, or with body surface area. Total ATX excreted in sweat ranged between 0.008 and 0.121 mg, corresponding to 0.02 and 0.3% of the administered drug. Neither 4-OH-ATX, nor N-des-ATX was detected in either of the collected sweat patches. Measuring ATX in sweat patches can provide information on cumulative drug use from patch application until removal.

High-throughput screening for norepinephrine transporter inhibitors using the FLIPRTetra

Monoamine transporters regulate the concentration of neurotransmitters in the synapse following neurotransmission and are very important drug targets in the pharmaceutical industry. Because of the labor-intensive nature of functional uptake assays using radioactive substrates, high-throughput screening for monoamine transporter inhibitors has been limited to radioligand binding assays. In this article, the authors describe the development of a 384-well, high-throughput functional screening assay for norepinephrine transporter inhibitors using the FLIPR(Tetra) and a recently identified fluorescent substrate, 4-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)- N-methyl-pyridinium (ASP(+)).

Spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric determination of atomoxetine in pharmaceutical preparations

Visible spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric methods were developed for the determination of atomoxetine in pharmaceutical preparations. The spectrophotometric method was based on a nucleophilic substitution reaction of atomoxetine with 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulphonate (NQS) in an alkaline medium to form an orange-colored product. The absorbance-concentration plot is rectilinear over the range 5-40 microg mL(-1). The limits of detection and quantification were calculated to be 0.02 microg mL(-1) and 0.06 microg mL(-1), respectively. The spectrofluorimetric method was based on the derivatization reaction of 4-chloro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-Cl) with atomoxetine to produce a fluorescent derivative. The formed highly fluorescent derivative that was measured at 462 nm after excitation at 533 nm. The fluorescence-concentration plot is rectilinear over the range 10-500 ng mL(-1). The limits of detection and quantification were calculated to be 0.19 ng mL(-1) and 0.57 ng mL(-1). The analytical performance of both methods was fully validated, and the results were satisfactory. The methods have been successfully applied for the determination of the studied drug in capsules and the results obtained ware in good agreement with those obtained by the reference method.

Development and validation of a stability-indicating RP-HPLC method for determination of atomoxetine hydrochloride in tablets

This paper describes the development of a stability-indicating RP-HPLC method for the determination of atomoxetine hydrochloride (ATX) in the presence of its degradation products generated from forced decomposition studies. The drug substance was subjected to stress conditions of acid, base, oxidation, wet heat, dry heat, and photodegradation. In stability tests, the drug was susceptible to acid, base, oxidation, and dry and wet heat degradation. It was found to be stable under the photolytic conditions tested. The drug was successfully separated from the degradation products formed under stress conditions on a Phenomenex C18 column (250 x 4.6 mm id, 5 microm particle size) by using acetonitrile-methanol-0.032 M ammonium acetate (55 + 05 + 40, v/v/v) as the mobile phase at 1.0 mL/min and 40 degrees C. Photodiode array detection at 275 nm was used for quantitation after RP-HPLC over the concentration range of 0.5-5 microg/mL with a mean recovery of 100.8 +/- 0.4% for ATX. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the method is repeatable, specific, and accurate for the estimation of ATX. Because the method effectively separates the drug from its degradation products, it can be used as a stability-indicating method.