Investigation of the pharmacokinetics and determination of tramadol in rabbit plasma by a high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector method using liquid–liquid extraction

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences, 2005-02, Vol.816 (1), p.203-208
• Main Authors: KÜCÜK, Aysel, KADIOGLU, Yücel, CELEBI, Fikret
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analgesics, Opioid - administration & dosage; Analgesics, Opioid - blood; Analgesics, Opioid - pharmacokinetics; Analysis; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Drug Stability; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General pharmacology; HPLC; Injections, Intravenous; Medical sciences; Pharmacokinetics; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Rabbits; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tramadol; Tramadol - administration & dosage; Tramadol - blood; Tramadol - pharmacokinetics
• ISSN: 1570-0232; 1873-376X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2004.11.031

An HPLC system using a new, simple and rapid liquid–liquid extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector method (HPLC–DAD) detection was validated to determine tramadol concentration in rabbit plasma. The method described was applied to a pharmacokinetic study of intravenous tramadol injections in rabbits. The extraction with ethylacetate yielded good response. The recovery of tramadol from plasma averaged 90.40%. Serial plasma samples were obtained prior to, during and after completion of the infusion for determination of tramadol concentrations. Tramadol concentrations were measured using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and pharmacokinetic application with intravenous tramadol in rabbits revealed that tramadol followed one-compartment open model. Maximum plasma concentration ( C max) and area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC) for tramadol were 14.3 μg mL −1 and 42.2 μg h mL −1, respectively. The method developed was successfully applied to a simple, rapid, specific, sensitive and accurate HPLC method for investigation of the pharmacokinetics of tramadol in rabbit plasma.