Liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of imipenem and sulbactam in mouse plasma

The first analytical method is developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of imipenem and sulbactam in mouse plasma. Sample treatment is based on plasma stabilization with 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) (0.5 mol/L; pH 7.0)-water-ethylene glycol (2:1:1, v/v/v), precipitation of plasma proteins with acetonitrile, centrifugation, evaporation, and reconstitution with borate buffer. Analytical determination is carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection. Chromatographic separation is achieved within 11 min on a C(18) column by gradient elution with borate buffer (0.1 mol/L, pH 7.2) and methanol. Imipenem and sulbactam are monitored at 295 and 230 nm, respectively. The overall interday accuracy is in the range of 95% to 100% and from 98% and 101% for imipenem and sulbactam, respectively. Interday precision is below 8% and 4% for imipenem and sulbactam, respectively. Limits of quantitation of imipenem and sulbactam are 0.05 and 1.0 microg/mL, respectively. The mean extraction recoveries are 94.5% and 94.2% for imipenem and sulbactam, respectively. The described method allows an accurate, simple, and rapid identification and quantitation of imipenem and sulbactam in mouse plasma. This method is applied to the analysis of imipenem and sulbactam in mouse plasma after drug administration.