HPLC determination of valproic acid in human serum

A HPLC method for the determination of valproic acid (VA) in human serum using diazepam as internal standard (I.S.) is described. The eluates were separated with a C18 250 x 4.6 mm internal diameter reversed phase column maintained at a temperature of 50 degrees C. A mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 3.0) 45:55 v/v was used at a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min. Wavelength was switched from 360 nm to 210 nm during valproic acid retention. The method was linear over a concentration range of 20 to 160 microg/ml for valproic acid. Recovery was greater than 94% over a concentration range of 20 to 120 microg/ml and the limit of quantitation was 1 microg/ml. The intra day and inter day relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) measured at 20, 60, 80 and 120 microg/ml ranged from 1.46 to 5.34% and 0.83 to 5.03% respectively. The method is simple, rapid, accurate and sensitive and it was used for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) in Indian epileptic patient population. The results obtained with this method correlated well with clinical practice.