RP-HPLC method and its validation for the determination of naloxone from a novel transdermal formulation

The aim of the present work was to develop a simple and reliable liquid chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of naloxone (NLX) in a novel transdermal formulation. Chromatography was carried out by reversed-phase technique on a C-18 column with a mobile phase composed of methanol, acetonitrile and 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7) in the proportion of 40:20:40 v/v/v, at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. The UV spectrophotometric determination was performed at 220 nm. This method was found to be specific and accurate with the mean recovery of 98.72% in the range of 2-50 microg/ml, and a run time of 15 min (retention time of NLX 11.3 min). Method was applied for stability testing of novel transdermal formulation developed in our laboratory. Assay content of NLX in the formulation was determined in stability samples and compared with the control samples. Statistical analysis by Student's t-test showed no significant difference between the assay content of NLX in control and test samples at 95% confidence interval. Overall, the proposed method is highly sensitive, precise and accurate and can be used for the reliable quantitation of NLX in developed transdermal formulation with the added advantage of simple procedure.