Simultaneous determination of nimesulide and hydroxynimesulide in rat plasma, cerebrospinal fluid and brain by liquid chromatography using solid-phase extraction.

A liquid chromatographic method with UV detection for the quantification of nimesulide (N) and hydroxynimesulide (M1) in rat plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain tissue is reported. Plasma samples (250 microl) and brain homogenates added with the right amount of the internal standard (I.S., 2'-(cyclohexyloxy)-4'-nitrophenyl methanesulphonanilide, NS398) are extracted on C(18) disposable cartridges by solid-phase extraction (SPE), while CSF samples are analyzed without any extraction. The separation is performed at room temperature on a Waters Symmetry C(18) 3.5 microm (150x4.6 mm I.D.) column with acetonitrile-sodium citrate buffer pH 3.00 (53:47, v/v) as mobile phase, at a flow-rate of 1.1 ml/min and detection at 240 nm. The retention times are 3.3, 6.0 and 9.9 min for M1, N and I.S., respectively. The lower limits of quantitation for either nimesulide and M1 are 25 ng/ml for plasma, 20 ng/ml for CSF and 25 ng/g for brain tissue. The calibration curves are linear up to 10,000 ng/ml for plasma, 5000 ng/ml for CSF and 5000 ng/g for brain tissue. This new assay can be applied to the study of the role of nimesulide in the modulation of neuroinflammatory processes.