Detection of furazolidone in human biological fluids by high performance liquid chromatography.

Furazolidone has normally been administered as a non-absorbable antimicrobial agent for use in gastrointestinal infections. However, in India and Mexico it has been used successfully for the treatment of typhoid fever. We measured concentrations of furazolidone by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in several biological fluids, after a single oral dose (5 mg/kg). Six healthy adult volunteers and seven children with typhoid fever and ten children with purulent meningitis were studied. In adults the peak serum concentration was less than or equal to 0.84 mg/l and less than or equal to 4.78% of the ingested dose was excreted in the urine. In the children concentrations were similar to those found in volunteers. The cerebrospinal fluid/serum ratio ranged from 1.02 to 5.95 in the meningitis patients. HPLC is a rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of furazolidone in biological fluids. The minimum detectable concentration was 0.05 mg/l, with a precision of 6% from peak area and an average recovery of 98%.