Development and Validation of Acyclovir HPLC External Standard Method in Human Plasma: Application to Pharmacokinetic Studies

Abstract

A simple, rapid, and selective RP-HPLC method was developed for the estimation of acyclovir in human plasma. The method involves a simple protein precipitation technique. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a reverse phase C18 column using mixture of 5 mM ammonium acetate (pH 4.0) and acetonitrile (40 : 60, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with UV detection at 290 nm. The retention time of acyclovir was 4.12 minutes. The method was validated and found to be linear in the range of 25.0–150.0 ng/mL. Validation studies were achieved by using the fundamental parameters, including accuracy, precision, selectivity, sensitivity, linearity and range, stability studies, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantitation (LOQ). It shows recovery at 91.0% which is more precise and accurate compared to the other method. These results indicated that the bioanalytical method was linear, precise, and accurate. The new bioanalytical method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic linearity study in human plasma.