High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of propiverine and its N-oxide in human serum

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of propiverine hydrochloride (P4) and its main metabolite, propiverine N-oxide (P4NO) in human serum. P4 has been shown to be efficacious in those patients who have either idiopathic bladder instability, or neurogenic bladder (detrusor hyperflexia) resulting from spinal cord injuries. In the present method, the analytes were extracted from serum (1 ml, pH 8) into methyl tert.-butyl ether. The separation was performed on a reversed-phase C8 (RP-select B) column using phosphate buffer-acetonitrile (30:70, v/v). UV absorption was used for measuring the analytes, with a limit of quantitation of about 10 ng/ml, which is appropriate for pharmacokinetic studies.