Reversed-phase ion-pair analysis of 5-fluorouracil in pig bile, liver homogenate, plasma and urine after administration by isolated liver perfusion.

5-Fluorouracil is at present one of the most administered cytostatic drugs in cancer chemotherapy. However, due to its high toxicity, local administration of the drug, e.g. by isolated liver perfusion, may be advantageous. A bioanalytical procedure, suitable for the routine analysis of 5-fluorouracil in pig bile, liver homogenates, plasma and urine is described using reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography with absorbance detection at 268 nm. Using a protein precipitation procedure with acetonitrile, a determination limit of 3500 ng g-1 was achieved for liver samples, and 5 ng ml-1 for plasma samples using a liquid-liquid extraction step.