Determination of erythromycin in serum and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

A high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of erythromycin in human serum and urine with UV detection at 200 nm is presented. The method involves a solid-phase extraction procedure followed by a simple phase separation step and chromatography on a reversed-phase column. The method has sensitivity limits of 0.25 and 1.0 micrograms/mL in serum and urine, respectively, and is sufficiently sensitive to monitor concentrations of erythromycin in human serum and urine after the administration of a single 500-mg erythromycin stearate tablet.