Simultaneous determination of methotrexate and metoclopramide in physiological fluids using RP-HPLC with ultra-violet detection; application in evaluation of polymeric nanoparticles

Methotrexate (MTX) is an anticancer drug while metoclopramide (MCP) is an antiemetic agent. Both the drugs are commonly coprescribed to avoid the emesis caused by anticancer drug. In this study, a novel, rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of the methotrexate and metoclopramide in biological and pharmaceutical samples using sparfloxacin as internal standard. The analytes were separated on a Kromasil 100-5C18 RP (250?×?4.6?mm, 5?µm) column, methanol, and 0.05% trifloroacetic acid (36:64?v/v) as mobile phase with a flow rate of 1?mL/min, detection wavelength of 290?nm, and column oven temperature at 40°C. Both the analytes were extracted from physiological fluids (bovine aqueous humor, vitreous humor, and human plasma) using mixture of methanol and 10% perchloric acid (50:50 v/v). The method was linear over the concentration range of 0.025–1.0?µg/mL for methotrexate and 0.030–1.0?µg/mL for metoclopramide. The % recovery from human plasma was 98.57 and 96.74% for MTX and MCP, respectively, while from aqueous humor and vitreous humor was 95.84 and 98.51% for MTX.

The developed method was applied for in vitro release of MTX from polymeric nanoparticles and can be applied for analysis of pharmaceutical and biological samples containing both the drugs.