A Simple, Rapid, and Validated LC Method for the Estimation of Nimesulide in Human Serum and Its Application in Bioavailability Studies

Nimesulide Determination on Carbon Black-Nafion Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode by Means of Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetry

Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetric method for Nimesulide (NIM) determination was developed. As a working electrode, glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with carbon black and Nafion (CB-Nafion GCE) was used. All measurements were carried out in 0.1 M acetate buffer (pH 4.6). Conducted experiments allowed to optimize differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) instrumental parameters: sampling and waiting time ts = tw = 10 ms, step potential Es = 4 mV, and pulse amplitude ΔE = 50 mV. The best results were obtained for preconcentration potential and time equal to 400 mV and 20 s, respectively. Limit of detection was calculated and was equal to 0.14 µM for 20-s preconcentration time and 0.06 µM for 40-s preconcentration time. In order to prove the applicability of the developed method, concentration of nimesulide in pharmaceutical products was determined. Calculated recoveries were in the range 94–99%, which indicates that the method might be assumed as accurate. Coefficient of variation was equal to 5.0% (n = 7, NIM concentration 1 µM) Obtained results of NIM determination were in good agreement with the content declared by producers.

Simultaneous determination of nimesulide and its four possible metabolites in human plasma by LC-MS/MS and its application in a study of pharmacokinetics

In this study, it was the first time that we simultaneously quantified nimesulide and its possible metabolites M1, M2, M3 and M4 by employing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Nimesulide-d5 was used as internal standard (IS) for validation. Analytes and IS were recovered from human plasma by protein precipitation with acetonitrile. Prepared plasma samples were analyzed under the same LC-MS/MS conditions, and chromatographic separation was realized by using an Ultimate C18 column, with run time being 5min for each sample. Our results showed that various analytes within their concentration ranges could be quantified accurately by using the method. Mean intra- and inter-day accuracies ranged from -4.8% to 4.8% (RE), and intra- and inter-assay precision ≤6.2% (RSD). The following parameters were validated: specificity, recovery, matrix effects, dilution integrity, carry-over, sample stability under a variety of storage and handling conditions (room temperature, freezer, freeze-thaw and post-preparative) and stock solution stability. Pharmacokinetics of nimesulide and its metabolites were calculated based on the analysis of samples collected from twelve Chinese healthy volunteers after single oral dose of 100mg nimesulide tablets. By applying the pharmacokinetic determination into human samples, we preliminarily detected a new metabolite of nimesulide (M4*), and the concentration of M4* was relatively higher in plasma. Furthermore, we predicted part of conceivable metabolism pathway in plasma of after oral administration of 100mg nimesulide tablets. This research provided an experimental basis for further studies on metabolic activation and biotransformation of nimesulide, and for more comprehensive conjecture of its metabolic pathways.