Determination of a major metabolite of tipredane in rat urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with column switching

An automated method, based on column-switching reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, has been developed for the determination of a major metabolite of tipredane in rat urine. Samples are injected directly onto a cyanopropyl extraction column. The portion of eluate containing the metabolite is switched, via an injection loop, onto an octadecylsilane analytical column. The limit of quantification of the method was 25 ng/ml for a 20 mu l injection volume of urine. The intra-assay precision (0.7-4.8%) and accuracy (94-105%), and the inter-assay precision (2.7-12.6%) and accuracy (93-105%), were acceptable. The analyte was found to be stable in rat urine when stored at room temperature for six days, in a freezer at or below -20 degrees C for twelve weeks, and when the samples were subjected to two freeze-thaw cycles. No significant interference was observed from tipredane and its major human metabolites, or urine constituents in male and female rats. The method was successfully used to analyse samples from a long-term toxicology study.