Development and Validation of a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography With Ultraviolet Detection Method to

Ola Ramadan1, Patrick Opitz, Georg Hempel

  • 1Department of Pharmaceutical and Medical Chemistry, Clinical Pharmacy, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.

PubMed
Abstract

Insights

A new dried blood spot (DBS) method accurately measures teicoplanin levels in children, improving therapeutic drug monitoring for Gram-positive infections. This cost-effective approach ensures optimal dosing for pediatric patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pharmacology
  • Clinical Chemistry
  • Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Gram-positive infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric intensive care units.
  • Increased resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics necessitates the use of glycopeptides like teicoplanin.
  • Teicoplanin pharmacokinetics in children are highly variable, often leading to sub-therapeutic levels with standard dosing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a cost-effective method for determining teicoplanin concentrations in pediatric patients using dried blood spots (DBS).
  • To validate a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for teicoplanin quantification in small blood volumes.
  • To establish a reliable correlation for estimating plasma teicoplanin concentrations from DBS samples.

Main Methods:

  • Evaluation of a method for teicoplanin determination in 20 µL of whole blood or plasma using Whatman 903 Protein Saver filter paper.
  • Utilized high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet/vis detection (HPLC-UV/Vis) and ketoconazole as an internal standard.
  • Established a parallel method for quantifying teicoplanin in 50 µL of liquid plasma for comparative analysis.

Main Results:

  • Successfully developed and validated a method for quantifying teicoplanin in 20 µL DBS samples.
  • Achieved a lower limit of quantification of 10 mg/L for teicoplanin in plasma.
  • Demonstrated high precision (2.3%–10.7%) and accuracy (95%–114.2%), with a consistent correlation factor (1.15) for estimating plasma concentrations from DBS.

Conclusions:

  • A simple, reliable, and cost-effective HPLC-UV/Vis method was established for pediatric teicoplanin concentration determination using DBS.
  • The validated method allows accurate quantification from small plasma volumes and whole blood, suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring.
  • An accurate correlation factor was identified, making DBS a practical tool for optimizing teicoplanin therapy in children.