Simple,rapid procedure for the determination of valproate and ethosuximide in plasma by gas—liquid chromatography

A simple method based on high-performance liquid column chromatography with electrochemical detection is described for the simultaneous determination of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid (HVA) in discrete brain regions of rats. The supernatant of a tissue homogenate is injected directly onto a liquid chromatograph, thus omitting the commonly adopted adsorption step. Of the four different supports tested Nucleosil C₁₉ (5 μm) was found superior with respect to chromatographic performance. The effects of pH, methanol and the ion-pairing agent hexyl sulfate on the retention were studied. The mobile phase used in the final studies consisted of citrate buffer pH 4.25—methanol (92:8, v/v) containing hexyl sulfate (1.7 · 10^?3M). Standard curves of dopamine, DOPAC and HVA were found linear up to about 600 pmol per injection for each compound. The precisions of the chromatographic step were (s_rel. %): 0.72% (dopamine), 1.26% (DOPAC) and 2.69% (HVA).