High-pressure liquid chromatographic method for determination of Sch 28191 in biological fluids.

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the measurement of N-D-ornithyl amphotericin B methyl ester (Sch 28191) in biological fluid. The method involves protein precipitation with methanol, followed by separation of the supernatant on a reverse-phase column and quantitation by absorbance at 405 nm. This technique resulted in a recovery of 97%. There was a good linear relationship between the peak height ratio and Sch 28191 concentrations ranging from 0.015 to 20 micrograms/ml. In addition, this method was specific for Sch 28191 since all of its analogs tested did not interfere with the assay. The method was reproducible with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.015 microgram/ml. Serum levels obtained from this method were in good agreement with those obtained from a microbiological assay only when drug concentrations were higher than 1.5 microgram/ml. The high-pressure liquid chromatographic method is useful in monitoring serum and urine drug levels in animals and should prove to be useful for pharmacokinetic studies of the drug with therapeutic doses in humans.