HPLC Determination and Steady-State Bioavailability Study of Levodropropizine Sustained-release Tablets in Dogs

A simple HPLC method using UV detection was developed and validated for the determination of levodropropizine (LDP) In dog plasma. The sample was prepared for injection using a liquid-liquid extraction method with 1-phenypiperazine as the internal standard. The mobile phase was methanol - diethylamine solution (0.05 M) (20:80, v/v, pH adjusted to 3.0 with $H_3PO_4$) with a detection wavelength of 240 nm. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) of LDP in a biological matrix was determined to be 25.25 ng/mL. The calibration curve was linear across the concentration range of 25.25 to 2020 ng/mL. The intra-day and inter-day precision values (CV%) were within 7% and accuracy (R.E. %) was within 6% of the nominal values for medium (252.5 ng/mL) and high (2020 ng/mL) LDP concentrations. For the LDP concentration at the LOQ, the intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy were within 20% and 10%, respectively. The average absolute recovery for LDP was 70.28%. This method was successfully used to analyze plasma samples in a steady-state bioavailability study of a newly developed sustained-release LDP tablets (SR) using immediate-release tablets (IR) as the reference. The relative bioavailability of the SR was determined to be $106.3\;{\pm}\;12.8%$ (n=6). The $C_{max}$ of the SR was significantly lower (p<0.05), and the $t_{max}$ was significantly longer than that of the IR (p<0.05). The results of ANOVA and two one-sided tests indicated that the SR exhibited acceptable sustained release properties and was bioequivalent to the IR.