A rapid, specific, and sensitive method for the determination of acetylation phenotype using dapsone.

An original, simple, specific, and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography assay for the determination of dapsone and monoacetyldapsone in human plasma is presented. The procedure consists of extracting the drugs and the internal standard (phenacetin) from 1 mL plasma with ethyl ether at alkaline pH. A liquid chromatograph equipped with a reversed-phase 5-microm C8 analytical column was used. The drugs were eluted with a mixture of water and methanol (70:30, v/v). Flow rate and wavelength were set at 1 mL/min and 286 nm, respectively. The precision, linearity, and limit of quantitation of the method were within acceptable limits. The method was considered adequate and has been used for the determination of the acetylator phenotype in population studies.