Simultaneous determination of mycophenolic acid and its phenolic glucuronide in human plasma using an isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography procedure

Simultaneous determination of mycophenolic acid (MPA) and mycophenolic acid glucuronide (MPAG) in plasma was accomplished by isocratic HPLC with UV detection. After protein precipitation and phase separation with saturated sodium dihydrogenphosphate, chromatographic separation was achieved on a monolithic column “Chromolith Performance RP-18e”, with acetonitrile/0.01 M phosphate buffer, pH 3, (25:75, v/v), as the mobile phase; flow rate 3.3 ml/min and measurement at 214 nm. Linearity was verified up to 40 mg/l for MPA and up to 400 mg/l for MPAG. Detection limits based on the analysis of 50 μl plasma were 0.05 and 0.5 mg/l for MPA and MPAG, respectively. Accuracy was 99.6-104% for MPA and 95.6-105% for MPAG and total imprecision (CV) was <7% for both compounds. Analytical recovery was >95% for MPA and MPAG. The method is simple, rapid, accurate and suitable for routine determination of MPA and MPAG in plasma.