Dried blood spot assay for estimation of metronidazole concentrations in rats and its application in single animal drug pharmacokinetic study

An HPLC-UV-dried blood spot (DBS) method for the estimation of metronidazole (MTZ) in rat whole blood is reported. Method employs Ahlstrom 226 sample collection paper and DBS samples were prepared by spotting with 30 μl of whole blood (spiked calibration standards/quality control samples/in vivo study samples). A 6 mm disc was punched from each DBS and extraction was carried out using water containing the internal standard (tinidazole). The calibration for MTZ was linear over 2.5–50 μg/ml concentration range. Accuracy (% bias) and precision (expressed as % Coefficient of variation) values for within and between day were <20% at the lower level quality control sample (LQC) and <15% at all other concentrations tested. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method was 2.5 μg/ml. The validated method was applied for the analysis of in vivo pharmacokinetic (PK) study samples after intravenous administration of MTZ to a rat. Whole blood PK parameters observed in this study were in compliance with literature based PK parameters. The DBS sampling approach was found to be useful in a single animal pharmacokinetic study.