Quantitation of Metformin in Human Plasma and Urine by Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography and Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

We describe an analytical method for the quantification of the widely used antihyperglycemic agent, metformin, in human plasma and urine. The separation was performed using isocratic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography on a Luna hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography column (125 x 4.6 mm, 3 m). The sample preparation was accomplished by solid-phase extraction. Validation of the method was performed in the range 10-2000 ng/mL for plasma and 5-30 mcg/mL for urine. The methods were linear within the investigated range (r(2) > 0.988). Within-day repeatability ranged from 3.1% to 7.5% in plasma and 1.6% to 6.2% in urine. Between-day reproducibility ranged from 2.9% to 5.3% in plasma and 0.6% to 1.8% in urine. The inaccuracy expressed as bias ranged from -3.1% to 1.9% in plasma and from -7.2% to 0.7% in urine. The lower limit of quantification for metformin in plasma was 5 ng/mL and in urine was 40 ng/mL. The method was therefore considered to be precise, accurate, reproducible, and sensitive enough to be appropriate for pharmacokinetic studies of metformin. The applicability of the method for human pharmacokinetic studies was demonstrated by dosing a healthy male volunteer with 500-mg metformin hydrochloride as a single oral dose; plasma and urine concentrations were measured for 24 hours.