A simple HPLC-UV method for the quantification of theophylline in rabbit plasma and its pharmacokinetic application

A simple, precise and accurate high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet method was developed and validated for the quantification of theophylline in rabbit plasma using hydroxyethyl theophylline as an internal standard. Separation was performed on Waters(®) C18 column (µBondapak™ 5 µm, 150 × 3.9 mm) using a mobile phase consisting of water-acetonitrile (96:4 v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Validation of the method was performed in order to demonstrate its selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy and stability. The calibration curves of theophylline were linear over a concentration range of 0.1-25 µg/mL. The within- and between-day coefficient of variation (CV) were <10%. The extraction recoveries of theophylline at the three levels of quality control samples were 63.1, 69.4 and 69.7%. The method was rapid with retention time of theophylline and the internal standard observed at ∼5.2 and 6.5 min, respectively. The developed method was applied successfully for studying the pharmacokinetics of theophylline in rabbits.