Simultaneous determination of nine model compounds in permeability samples using RP-HPLC: application to prove the cassette administration principle in single pass intestinal perfusion study in rats.

A simple, sensitive and specific reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method for simultaneous determination of atenolol, paracetamol, hydrochlorothiazide, caffeine, cephalexin, metoprolol, propranolol, ketoprofen along with phenol red (a non-absorbable compound) in samples obtained from intestinal in situ single-pass perfusion studies, was developed and validated. Chromatography was carried out on RP18 column with mobile phase comprising of 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 2.5) and methanol in gradient mode. The calibration curves were linear for all nine permeability model compounds (r² > 0.999) across the concentration range of 1.25-40 μg/ml. The coefficient of variation for intra and inter-day assay precision was between 0.04 and 3.08% and the accuracy was between 98.39 and 109.45%. Stability studies were carried out at different storage conditions and all the analytes were found to be stable. The method was successfully applied for analysing the permeability samples obtained from in situ single pass perfusion studies. The effective permeability (P(eff)) values obtained upon cassette administration were in close proximity to the permeability values obtained upon single administration of model compounds. In conclusion, the developed RP-HPLC method can be used for high throughput cassette validation of rat in situ perfusion model for intestinal permeability assessment.