Microscale ultrafiltration technique for determining free drug in 50-microL serum samples.

This ultrafiltration technique allows determination of free drug in 50 microL of serum. We ultrafiltered sera containing the following drugs--valproic acid (and its major metabolites), phenobarbital, diazepam, indomethacin, phenytoin, furosemide, and chloramphenicol--using both the commercially available micropartition system (MPS-1, Amicon), which requires a 200-microL sample, and our modified micro system, which requires only 50 microL. The value for the free fraction of each drug obtained in the two experiments agreed well. The smaller sample requirement makes the micro method particularly suited for pediatric samples and studies on small laboratory animals.