Determination of loperamide in rat plasma and bovine serum albumin by LC

A rapid, isocratic liquid chromatographic (LC) method was developed for the determination of loperamide (Lop) in solutions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and rat plasma. Prior to LC analysis, BSA solutions or rat plasma samples were treated with metaphosphoric acid to precipitate protein. Supernatant was directly injected onto a C18 reverse phase column and loperamide was monitored by a UV detector set at 195 nm. The concentrations of Lop in both rat plasma and BSA solution samples were determined by comparison with their calibration curves, which were generated from the peak area ratio of Lop to internal standard, clomipramine versus loperamide concentration. The calibration curves were linear in the range 0-3.0 microg ml(-1) of Lop for the BSA solution sample and 0-1.0 microg ml(-1)for the rat plasma sample. Overall recoveries of loperamide added to BSA and rat plasma samples were 101.4 and 95.5%, respectively. The method is simple (no extraction), rapid (22 min separation time), sensitive (the detection limit of loperamide is 50 ng ml(-1) for the BSA solution sample and 100 ng ml(-1) for the rat plasma sample), reproducible (within-day R.S.D. of 2.59-7.11%, among-day R.S.D. of 1.25-5.97%), and suitable for routine analysis of loperamide in rat plasma and BSA solution samples.