Determination of sertraline in rat plasma by HPLC and fluorescence detection and its application to in vivo pharmacokinetic studies.

A simple, rapid, and sensitive HPLC method based on 9H-fluoren-9-ylmethyl chloroformate derivatization for the quantification of sertraline in rat plasma has been developed, requiring a plasma sample of only 0.1 mL, which was deproteinized and derivatized for 5 min in two single steps. The obtained derivative was stable at room temperature and was determined by HPLC using a fluorescence detector. The analytical column was a C(18) column and the mobile phase was acetonitrile and water (80:20, v/v). Calibration curves were linear in the range of 10-500 ng/mL. The limit of detection was approximately 3 ng/mL, and the lower limit of quantification was established at 10 ng/mL. The bias of the method was lower than 10%, and the within day as well as between day, relative standard deviations were lower than 12%. This analytical method was successfully applied to characterize sertraline pharmacokinetics in rats following intravenous (t(1/2) = 213 ± 48 min, Cl = 43.1 ± 8.7 mL/min, V(d) = 11560 ± 1861 mL) and oral (C(max) = 156 ± 76 ng/mL, t(max) = 63.8 ± 16.3 min) administration of 2 and 5 mg, respectively.