Determination of Belotecan in the Plasma,Bile, and Urine of Rats by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection and Its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

Abstract

A simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of belotecan in the plasma, urine, and bile samples of rats. Belotecan was analyzed with HPLC using a C18 column with fluorescence detector. A mixture of acetonitrile–0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer at pH 2.4 (25:75, v/v) and 0.2% trifluoroacetic acid was used as the mobile phase. The lower limits of quantitation (LOQ) were 5 ng mL^?1 for the plasma and 5 µg mL^?1 for the urine and bile samples. The method has been readily applied for the routine pharmacokinetic study of belotecan in small laboratory animals.