Quantification of phosphatidylserine, phosphatidic acid and free fatty acids in an ultrasound contrast agent by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection

Sonazoid is a new contrast agent for ultrasound imaging. The product is an aqueous suspension of perfluorobutane microbubbles coated with phospholipids obtained from hydrogenated egg phosphatidylserine (H-EPS). A normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with evaporative light scattering detection was developed for quantification of free fatty acids, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidic acid in H-EPS and Sonazoid. Separation of the lipids was carried out on an HPLC diol column and a gradient of chloroform and methanol with 0.2% formic acid titrated to pH 7.5 with ammonia. The calibration standards contained stearic acid, distearoyl-phosphatidic acid (DSPA) and distearoyl-phosphatidylserine (DSPS) in the concentration range of 0.016-1.0mg/ml (0.4-25microg injected). The method was validated with a limit of quantification of the three lipids set to 0.4microg (approximately 20-60microM). The best fit of the three calibration curves were obtained when the logarithmic transformed theoretical lipid concentration was plotted against the logarithmic transformed area under the peak and fitted to a second order polynomial equation. Stearic acid, DSPA and DSPS were analysed with an intermediate precision ranging from 4.4% to 5.3% R.S.D. and they were extracted from an aqueous suspension with a recovery ranging from 103.3% to 113.3%. The sum of total phospholipid concentration determined in H-EPS ranged from 96.4% to 103.2% of the theoretical values. The lipids in the ultrasound product were quantitated with a repeatability ranging from 6.2% to 11.7% R.S.D.