Determination of deferiprone in urine and serum using a terbium-sensitized luminescence method

Optimized conditions, validation and practical applications of a new, rapid and specific fluorometric method for the determination of deferiprone (DFP) in urine and serum samples are reported. The proposed method, which is based on the formation of a luminescent complex with Tb(3+) ion, is evaluated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, stability, recovery and limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ). Under optimum conditions (pH 7.5, [Tb(3+)] = 3 × 10(-4)  mol/L, temperature 0 °C and excitation wavelength 295 nm), the relative intensities at 545 nm are linear, with the concentration of DFP in the range 0.072-13 mmol/L for urine and serum samples. The LOD and LOQ, respectively, are calculated to be 0.014 and 0.045 mmol/L for urine and 0.022 and 0.072 mmol/L for serum samples. The intra-day and inter-day values for the precision and accuracy of the proposed method are all < 5%, and the recovery of the method is in the range 97.1-103.8%. The method was applied to human urine and serum samples collected from patients receiving DFP. The results indicated that the method can be successfully applied to the determination of DFP in human urine and serum samples collected for clinical or biopharmaceutical investigations in which simple, rapid, cheap and specific determination methods facilitate and speed up the analytical procedure.