Development and validation of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the determination of phenazopyridine in rat plasma: application to the pharmacokinetic study

Phenazopyridine hydrochloride is a strong analgesic used in the treatment of urinary tract infections. The aim of the present study was to develop a procedure based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the analysis of phenazopyridine in rat plasma. The method was set up and adapted for the analysis of small biological samples taken from rats. Biological samples were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction. The extraction agent was ethyl acetate. The samples were separated by GC on a DB-5MS analytical column and determined by a quadrupole mass spectrometer detector operated under selected ion monitoring mode. Excellent linearity was found between 0.01 and 1.00 microg/ml (r = 0.9991, n = 9) for plasma samples. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.3 ng/ml. Within-day and between-day precisions expressed as the relative standard deviation (RSD) for the method were 1.83-4.91% and 2.12-4.76%, respectively. The recoveries for all samples were >90%. The main pharmacokinetic parameters obtained were T(max) = (0.35+/-0.01) h, C(max) = (0.396+/-0.079) microg/ml, AUC = (0.373+/-0.065) h microg/ml and CL = (94.2+/-5.9) ml/g/h. The results presented here clearly indicate that this proposed method could be applicable to investigate the pharmacokinetic of phenazopyridine in rats after administration. (c)

Application of stochastic resonance to quantitative analysis of weak chromatographic signal of phenazopyridine in human plasma

AIM

To apply stochastic resonance algorithm (SRA) to quantitative analysis of weak chromatographic signal, which was embedded in the noise.

METHODS

Based on the theory of stochastic resonance (SR), a simple and effective SRA has been established to improve analytical detection limits of chromatographic analysis, which apply to enhance the signal to noise ratio by the optimization of the parameters and Runge-Kutta method, was established. The method was used to quantitative analysis of phenazopyridine in human plasma by HPLC/UV. Meanwhile this method is compared with HPLC/MS.

RESULTS

By experimental chromatographic data sets, an excellent quantitative relationship between concentrations of phenazopyridine and their responses had been obtained. The concentration of phenazopyridine in plasma determined by HPLC/UV with SRA and HPLC/MS showed that there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the two methods.

CONCLUSION

The new method was feasible.

Determination of phenazopyridine in human plasma via LC–MS and subsequent development of a pharmacokinetic model

This paper describes a new LC-MS method for the determination of phenazopyridine and the subsequent development of a pharmacokinetic model for phenazopyridine in vivo. Phenazopyridine hydrochloride is a strong analgesic used in the treatment of urinary tract infections. Although it has been used as a clinical treatment for a very long time, pharmacokinetic data and suitable methods for its determination in plasma are currently lacking. The study described in this paper used high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, HPLC-MS, to determine the plasma concentrations of phenazopyridine in human subjects after oral administration. After liquid-liquid extraction, the phenazopyridine in the plasma was analyzed on a C18 column under SIM mode. A double-peak phenomenon was observed in most of the concentration-time profiles of the subjects. Although some drugs are known to cause this phenomenon, phenazopyridine has not been reported to do so. Several possible causes were analyzed in order to obtain an explanation. We proposed a two-site absorption compartment model to fit the concentration data in vivo, which has one more absorption site than the classical one-compartment model. The model describes the concentration profiles in different dose groups well and could provide an explanation for the double-peak phenomenon. The three dose groups exhibited similar model parameters and a linear pharmacokinetic process over the dose range used.

Metabolism and disposition of phenazopyridine in rat

1. The blood profile, tissue distribution, biliary and urinary excretion, and metabolism of 14C-phenazopyridine (PAP) was studied in male Wistar rats. 2. Based on the blood profile of 14C the absorption of PAP from the gastrointestinal tract was rapid; the t1/2 of elimination was 7.35 h. 3. Biliary excretion was a major route of elimination with 40.7% dose excreted by this route in bile duct-cannulated rats over the 0-8 h period. The predominant metabolite was conjugated 4'-hydroxy-PAP. 4. Liver and kidney showed the highest tissue levels of PAP-derived 14C, and significant covalent binding was found in these two tissues. 5. The major urinary metabolite of PAP was 4-acetylaminophenol (NAPA) followed in order by 5,4'-dihydroxy-PAP, 5-hydroxy-PAP, 4'-hydroxy-PAP and 2'-hydroxy-PAP; unchanged PAP accounted for < 1% dose. 6. Doubling the dose of PAP to 200 mg/kg caused a proportionate decrease in urinary NAPA excretion and an increase in 5-hydroxy-PAP.