Determination of the trypanocidal drugs homidium, isometamidium and quinapyramine in bovine serum or plasma using HPLC.

Sensitive HPLC analytical methods for trypanocidal drugs in serum or plasma have been developed. The methods are suitable for the analysis of drugs that are widely used against animal trypanosomiasis at present, including Homidium bromide (Ethidium, Boots Company Ltd.), Homidium chloride (Novidium, May and Baker Ltd.), Isometamidium chloride (Samorin, May and Baker Ltd.), Quinapyramine chloride (Antrycide, ICI) and Quinapyramine sulphate (Trypacide, May and Baker Ltd.). The detection limits for various drugs range between 3 and 20 ng per ml of serum, when serum volumes up to 10 ml have been processed. These methods provide a significant improvement of sensitivity for Isometamidium over existing analytical procedures and represent new methods for analysis of Homidium and Quinapyramine.