Stereospecific high-performance liquid chromatographic assay of pirprofen enantiomers in rat plasma and urine

Methods of analysis of chiral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Although the analysis of the enantiomers of chiral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been carried out for over 20 years, there often remains a deficit within the pharmaceutical and medical sciences to address this issue. Hence, despite world-wide therapeutic use of chiral NSAIDs the importance of stereoselectivity in pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and pharmacological activity and disposition has often been ignored. This review presents both the general principles that allow separation of chiral NSAID enantiomers, and discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of the available chromatographic assay methods and procedures used to separately quantify NSAID enantiomers in biological matrices.

Limited extent of stereochemical conversion of chiral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs induced by derivatization methods employing ethyl chloroformate

A potential problem with chiral derivatization is the possibility of stereochemical conversion during the derivatization reaction. This possibility has been examined using the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ibuprofen, ketoprofen, etodolac and flurbiprofen. To avoid possible interference from stereochemical impurities, male Sprague-Dawley rats were dosed intraperitoneally with the S enantiomer (100 mg/kg) of each drug and the R enantiomer of etodolac. Blood samples were taken 4 h afterwards. The plasma samples were analyzed using published stereospecific methods involving chiral derivatization with ethyl chloroformate followed by either R-(+)-alpha-phenylethylamine or L-leucinamide. For all the drugs examined, the percentage of formation of the antipode was between 1.0 and 5.8%. In vitro studies of the R and S enantiomers demonstrate that the apparent extent of conversion is inversely related to the concentration of ethyl chloroformate present during the derivatization reaction for ibuprofen, ketoprofen and flurbiprofen but not for etodolac. However, both the R and S enantiomers appear to be inverted to the same extent in the presence of ethyl chloroformate. These results suggest that the degree of stereochemical conversion induced by these assay procedures is small and would not contribute significantly to analytical error in the absence of a large difference in concentrations of the enantiomers.

Influence of the route of administration on the pharmacokinetics of pirprofen enantiomers in the rat

The pharmacokinetics of the enantiomers of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug pirprofen were studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats after oral and intravenous (iv) doses of the racemate. No significant differences were detected between the enantiomers after oral or iv dosing in t1/2, Vd, or sigma Xu. However, the R:S area under the plasma concentration (AUC) ratio after oral doses (0.92 +/- 0.13) was slightly but significantly lower than after matching iv doses (1.05 +/- 0.036). The absolute bioavailability of the active S-enantiomer (78.5%) after oral doses was higher than the inactive R-enantiomer (69.3%). The plasma protein binding of both enantiomers was saturable over a fivefold range of plasma concentrations. At higher plasma concentrations, the S-enantiomer was less bound than the R-enantiomer. In an in vitro experiment using everted rat jejunum, no chiral inversion was discernible. The dependency of the AUC ratio of the enantiomers on the route of administration may be due to stereoselective first-pass metabolism.