High-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the simultaneous measurement of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole in plasma or urine.

Procedures for the simultaneous determination of trimethoprim (TMP) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in plasma or urine are reported. The drugs are extracted from plasma or urine by a single solid-phase extraction and quantitated by high-performance liquid chromatography. Both drugs are analyzed in the same chromatographic run. Intra- and interassay variability are less than 10% for both compounds, and the recovery and precision of TMP measurement are unaffected by concurrent SMX concentrations. Limits of quantitation for TMP and SMX in plasma were 0.02 and 0.21 microgram/ml, respectively. In urine, the limit of quantitation for both drugs was 1.0 microgram/ml. Metabolites of TMP and SMX did not interfere with the assay. Pharmacokinetic parameters from volunteers given two formulations of co-trimoxazole in a crossover comparison study are reported.