Polarographic Assay of Submicrogram Quantities of Cis-Dichlorodiamineplatinum (II) in Biological Samples

High performance liquid chromatographic determination of platinum in blood and urine samples of cancer patients after administration of cisplatin drug using solvent extraction and N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-1,2-propanediamine as complexation reagent

A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) procedure has been developed for the determination of cisplatin, based on the pre-column derivation of platinum(II) with reagent N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-1,2-propanediamine (H2SA2pn). The neutral platinum complex was extracted, concentrated in an organic solvent and then injected (5 microl) on a reverse phase HPLC column, Varian Micro-Pak SP C-18, 5 microm (150 mm x 4.0 mm i.d.). The complex was eluted isocratically using a ternary mixture of methanol/acetonitrile/water (40/30/30, v/v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and was determined by a UV detector set at 254 nm after elution. A detection limit was found to be 4.0 ng per injection. The amounts of platinum in blood serum and urine of cancer patients after administration of cisplatin were observed in a range of 221-298 ng/ml and 43-97 ng/ml with relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 3.6-4.6% and 3.5-4.8%, respectively. Preliminary metabolism profiles of Pt concentrations in blood and urine from the patients were established.

Platinum antitumour agents: a review of (bio)analysis

This paper summarizes analytical techniques in order to get a clear picture of the ins and outs of the (bio)analysis of platinum-containing compounds. The antitumour agent cisplatin has become an indispensable drug for the cure of a variety of cancer diseases. Since its introduction in the early seventies, about 2,000 related platinum complexes were designed to devoid the dose-limiting nephrotoxicity. Some of them were introduced for clinical trial, such as carboplatin and iproplatin. To investigate the mechanism of action and pharmaco-kinetic behaviour, several interesting assays for total and specific platinum determination in biological matrices have been developed, each with its own possibilities and limitations.

Determination of platinum-containing drugs in human plasma by liquid chromatography with reductive electrochemical detection

The platinum complex cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)(cisplatin or CDDP), which is used successfully to treat various kinds of tumour, can be determined in human plasma ultrafiltrate using liquid chromatography with reductive electrochemical detection (LC-ED). Polarographic analyses of other platinum-containing drugs have been carried out, and the results indicate that some of them might be good candidates for detection using the ED method. cis-Dichloro-trans-dihydroxo-cis-bis-(isopropylamine)platinum(IV) (CHIP or JM-9), diammine(1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylato)platinum(II) (CBDCA or JM-8), and tetrachloro(trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane)platinum(IV) (TCDCP), which are under evaluation for antitumour properties, have been investigated by this method. The results suggest that LC-ED may be a suitable technique for the determination of CHIP and TCDCP. The separation of cationic hydrolysis products from the neutral parent complex (CDDP) was carried out on reversed-phase columns, modified with alkylsulphonic acid ion-pair reagents. The rate of disappearance of CDDP in various media at 37.0 degrees C was studied using this method. These results are in good agreement with those determined by other investigators using different methods. In addition, the monoaqua hydrolysis product was detected after incubation of CDDP with plasma ultrafiltrate and 100 mM sodium chloride. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry with electrothermal atomisation was used to determine the total platinum content in eluate fractions. This aided the identification of platinum-containing peaks in the LC-ED profile, and was also used to measure the percentage platinum recovered from the column.

Determination of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) in human plasma using ion-pair chromatography with electrochemical detection

A thin-layer gold/mercury electrode and a hanging mercury drop electrode are compared as part of an evaluation of liquid chromatography (LC) with electrochemical detection (ED) for the determination of platinum species in human plasma ultrafiltrate. The platinum species, derived from an aged aqueous solution of the antineoplastic agent cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (CDDP), can be separated by ion-pair chromatography. Variation of a number of parameters is described along with the limitations and advantages of each kind of electrode system. We have used our LC-ED technique to separate CDDP from its hydrolysis products and other non-platinum-containing species in human plasma ultrafiltrate with a detection limit of 62 ng/ml (ppb).

Drug level monitoring: cytostatics

The present review on the quantification of cytostatic drugs has mainly been focussed on chromatographic techniques. Special attention has been paid to the precautions that have to be taken into account to ensure the selectivity and accuracy of the various methods. The various cytostatics that have been dealt with are: alkylating agents, antimetabolites, vinca alkaloids, antibiotics, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, podophyllotoxine derivatives, and nitrosoureas.

Pharmacokinetic studies in lung cancer patients

Pharmacokinetic measurements to monitor and design cytotoxic treatments in cancer patients are being used more and more in order to optimize dosage and administration schedules. Ideally, information on drug concentrations over time should help reveal dose-response correlations. The cytotoxic drugs carmustine, etoposide, cyclophosphamide, iphosphamide, cis-diammineplatinum, Adriamycin (doxorubicin), and 4'-epi-Adriamycin have been monitored on different treatment programs of patients with advanced lung cancers. The collected experience emphasizes the many individual variables encountered in clinical practice complicating the effort of correlating pharmacokinetic data with clinical results. The examples, presented on the basis of the authors' experiences, pertain to drug instability, gastrointestinal absorption, enzymatic induction in the liver, drug interaction, and drug tissue concentrations.