No abstract

Spectrofluorometric analysis for the quantification of new-generation antidepressant drugs belong to the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors is described. Five different drugs, sertraline, paroxetine, citalopram, venlafaxine, and fluoxetine, were analysed for spectrofluorometric detection in pharmaceutical formulations and urine and plasma samples. The calibration curves were found linear between fluorescence intensity and drugs concentration in the range of 5–500 ng/L with coefficients of determination above 0.9985 for all the analytes. The method recoveries were higher than 85% in all the three matrices. The intra- and interday variation coefficients were observed less than 8% and 13%, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found in the range of 0.016–0.084 ng/L and 0.090–0.285 ng/L, respectively. Additionally, the results were compared statistically for each analyte in all the three matrices and were found equivalent, which signifies the absence of matrix effect. Thus, the method will be applied successfully to the determination of the cited drugs in pure or dosage forms as well as in biological fluids with good accuracy and precision.

A simple and rapid reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method is developed for the simultaneous determination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (sertraline, citalopram, paroxetine and fluoxetine) in urine, plasma and oral fluid. Separation was performed on a Crestpack-18 column (4.6 × 250 mm × 5 µ) within 17.5 min. The mobile phase was composed of water (50 mL) [with glacial acetic acid (0.15 mL) + triethyl amine (0.30 mL)]-acetonitrile (40 mL)-methanol (10 mL), delivered isocratically (0.6 mL/min) at 270 nm. Liquid-liquid extraction was performed for isolation of analytes from biofluids. The developed methodology was validated in terms of sensitivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, stability and selectivity. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 5-1,000 ng/mL for all the compounds in three matrices, with coefficients of determination between 0.9991 to 0.9998. The average extraction recoveries for all the four analytes were above 90%. The limits of detection and limits of quantification were in the ranges of 0.02-1.20 and 0.12-2.51 ng/mL, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day variation coefficients were less than 8.0 and 11%, respectively. Moreover, the results were compared statistically for each analyte in three matrices and found to be equivalent, which signifies the absence of matrix effect. Thus, the method can be applied for the determination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in urine, plasma and oral fluid for routine therapeutic and toxicological screening.

Nowadays antidepressant drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) represent the first choice in the treatment of moderate to severe depressive illness, various phobias, and personality disorders. In spite of the therapeutic aspects, they often produce very severe and toxic effects in deliberate and accidental cases of poisoning. These are also considered as date-rape drugs used for drugged victims for raping or robbing. Therefore, in recent years, their analyses in different biological matrices for clinical and toxicological analysis purposes has been a target worthy of interest. Thus, the review focuses on recent advancements of various separation techniques like chromatography and electrophoresis that are concernd with the determination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor drugs and their metabolites in various biological matrices. In addition to this, a critical discussion on analytical approaches has also been incorporated, suggesting their applicability and limitations for further implementations. Thus, this paper will definitely help in the selection and development of proper analytical methodologies to achieve satisfactory results, better scientific understanding, and test interpretation.