Simple high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of buspirone in human plasma

A simple, rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of buspirone in plasma was developed. Buspirone was isolated from plasma using protein precipitation by acetonitrile and the recovery was complete. Citalopram was used as internal standard. The chromatographic conditions were as follows: analytical 125 x 4 mm, i.d. Nucleosil C18 column (5 microm particle size), mobile phase consisting of sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffer/acetonitrile (60:40, v/v) adjusted to pH 5.5 at a flow rate of 1.0 ml min(-1), UV detection at 235 nm. The quantification limit for buspirone in plasma was 0.5 ng ml(-1). The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range 0.5-10 ng ml(-1). The inter- and intra-day assay coefficients of variation were found to be less than 8%. The present validated method was successfully used for bioequivalence studies of buspirone in human subjects.