Determination of transdermal sildenafil in nude mouse skin by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of sildenafil transdermal permeation of nude mouse skin. A reversed-phase column with UV detection at 224 nm was used for chromatographic separation. The mobile phase consisted of 32% acetonitrile with 0.2% phosphoric acid in water at pH 5.3 adjusted with 10 M NaOH with the flow-rate set at 1.0 ml/min. The limit of quantitation achieved was 5 ng/ml, and the calibration curve showed good linearity over the concentration range of 5–500 ng/ml. The relative standard deviations of within- and between-day analyses were all within 15%. Sildenafil was found to be stable between pH 3 and 12 during 24-h incubation with skin. After transdermal administration of 15.8 μg/ml of sildenafil to nude mouse skin, it was detected as early as 15 min. The transport amount of sildenafil could be quantitated and, at pH 8–11, had the highest permeation rate in nude mouse skin.