Simple and rapid liquid chromatography method for determination of moxifloxacin in saliva

A high performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of moxifloxacin in human saliva was developed. The method involved deproteinisation of the sample with perchloric acid and analysis of the supernatant using a reversed-phase C18 column (150 mm) and fluorescence detection at an excitation wavelength of 290 nm and an emission wavelength of 460 nm. The assay was specific for moxifloxacin and linear from 0.25 to 10.0 μg/ml. The relative standard deviation of intra- and inter-day assays was lower than 10%. The average recovery of moxifloxacin from saliva was 101%. Due to its simplicity, the assay can be used for pharmacokinetic studies of moxifloxacin.

► Developed and validated a sensitive, specific, rapid and accurate method utilising a single step extraction for quantitative determination of moxifloxacin in saliva.
► Good intra- and inter-day precision, with chromatogram yielding well resolved peaks for moxifloxacin.
► Good correlation between plasma and saliva concentrations of moxifloxacin (r2 = 0.847; p < 0.001).
► Saliva to plasma ratio was 0.54.