Micro method for liquid chromatographic determination of cyclosporin A in whole blood with use of a rapid extraction procedure.

In this precise, reversed-phase liquid chromatographic procedure, Cyclosporin A (Cy A) is extracted from 300 microL of whole blood with cyclosporin D as internal standard by liquid-liquid extraction. A 20-microL aliquot of the extract, injected onto a Nucleosil octyl analytical column heated at 72 degrees C, is eluted with a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.01 M phosphate buffer, pH 5.5 at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Detection is set at 210 nm. The chromatography is complete within 10 min. The detection limit is 25 micrograms/L. Between-run CVs range from 2.3 to 6.2% and recovery is 92.1 +/- 6.3%. The major advantages of our extraction procedure are the rapid clean-up method and the small volume required. This procedure is especially suitable for cyclosporine determination in pediatric transplantations.