Analysis of albuterol in human plasma based on immunoaffinity chromatographic clean-up combined with high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection.

A method combining immunoaffinity chromatography with high-performance liquid chromatography was developed for the determination of albuterol in human plasma. The immunoaffinity chromatography, based on the specific interaction of albuterol with the immobilized antibody raised against it, was used as a clean-up step. Albuterol eluted from this immunochemical solid-phase clean-up step was analysed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection. The performance of the assay was validated on six normal volunteers after a 4-mg oral dose of albuterol, which gave a peak plasma concentration in the range 6.67-15.31 ng/ml at 3-4 h after the dose. Plasma levels (0.79-1.56 ng/ml) of albuterol could be detected up to 24 h after the dose.