Determination of cisplatin and its hydrolytic metabolite in human serum by capillary electrophoresis techniques

Cisplatin is for a long time in clinical use as efficient antitumor drug. The success in cisplatin-based chemotherapy, however, strongly depends on how careful the drug's dosages are monitored in order to reduce severe side-effects and overcome cellular resistance. The use of micellar electrokinetic chromatography with direct UV detection is described for the determination of intact cisplatin in human serum. The main product of drug's hydrolytic metabolism, cis-diammineaquachloroplatinum(II), was quantified using capillary zone electrophoresis in combination with indirect UV detection and on-line transient isotachophoresis preconcentration. The detection limits of platinum species studied were about 2–3 μmol l−1 that allows the proposed methods to be applied for quantification of the administered levels of cisplatin as well as drug's active metabolite. Changes in the speciation of cisplatin occurring after intravenous administration can also be monitored using these simple and convenient CE techniques.