Determination of adriamycin in plasma and tissue biopsies.

A simple, rapid and sensitive method for the extraction and high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of adriamycin in tissue and plasma is described. Tissue (5-100 mg) and plasma (1 ml) samples underwent a C18 Sep-Pak extraction into methanol. Chromatography was performed on a muBondapakphenyl column using a mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1 M ammonium formate (pH 4.0) with a flow-rate of 2 ml/min. Fluorometric detection was used with an excitation of 480 nm and an emission of 550 nm. The procedure produced a linear curve for the concentration range 25-1000 ng/ml. The development of the assay produced rapid, repeatable and accurate results for both small tissue samples and plasma.