Determination of Levetiracetam in Plasma by a Modified HPLC-UV Method and Its Pharmacokinetic Application

Abstract

Citation: Hernández-Mitre MP, et al. (2020). Determination of levetiracetam in plasma by a modified HPLC-UV method and its pharmacokinetic application. Mathews J Pharm Sci. 4(1):04. ABSTRACT Levetiracetam is a very effective antiepileptic which has been pointed out as a drug that should be monitored, despite its almost ideal pharmacokinetics. The objective was to adapt an HPLC-UV method to quantify levetiracetam in plasma based on previously published techniques, to provide an affordable analysis for routine use in a low-source setting. Pretreatment of plasma samples consisted of a deproteinization with acetonitrile. The analytical conditions implemented were a mobile phase of potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (10 mM, pH-4.6)/acetonitrile(93:7 v/v) at an isocratic flow rate of 0.5 mL/min, and UV detection at 192 nm. The retention time for levetiracetam was 7.45 min. Total runtime of the analysis was 9 min. The method was linear in the range of 5-60 µg/mL, repeatable and reproducible (CV<15%). Recovery was above 80%. The limit of detection was 0.19 µg/mL. The method was applied to determine levetiracetam concentration in plasma of 10 patients with epilepsy, and pharmacokinetic parameters Cmax, Tmax, AUC 0-t , AUC 0-∞ , and t 1/2 were estimated. The described method represents an alternative for laboratories interested in implementing therapeutic monitoring of levetiracetam that lack sophisticated equipment and have limited access to supplies employed in other published methods.