CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS ELECTROCHEMISTRY OF MICRODIALYSIS SAMPLES FOR PHARMACOKINETIC STUDIES

Electrochemical detection has been shown to be a sensitive method of detection in capillary electrophoresis (CE). The small sample volume required for CE makes it ideal for the analysis of microdialysis samples. In this paper, capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection is utilized in the analysis of samples obtained during continuous monitoring of the pharmacokinetics of L-dopa in the rat. The detection limit for L-dopa was 98 attomoles or 3.9 ng/mL. The elimination half-life was calculated to be 10.3 +/- 1.1 minutes. Voltammetric characterization was used to verify the identity of L-dopa and its metabolites. The effects of electrochemical pretreatment on the detector performance was also investigated.