Quantitative determination of individual teicoplanin components in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

We have developed a simple, rapid and highly sensitive method for determining a plasma or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of individual teicoplanin components using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography followed by electrochemical detection. A linear relationship was observed between concentrations and peak heights for the teicoplanin concentration range of 0.025–10 μg/mL. The correlation coefficients of all standard curves were greater than or equal to 0.999. The limit of detection for the major component of teicoplanin was 1.0 ng/mL (signal/noise ratio >3). Daily fluctuations of standard curves (n = 5) were small, with coefficients of variation of 3.3%. The intra-assay precision was 5.9% (n = 5). Inter-assay precision ranged from 2.6 to 6.8%. The method described here is suitable for clinical monitoring of teicoplanin levels in plasma or CSF level and for use in studies involving pharmacokinetics of individual teicoplanin component.