Determination of gabapentin in human plasma by capillary electrophoresis-laser induced fluorescence detection with and without solid-phase extraction

We have developed two methods for the quantitation of gabapentin in human plasma. They are based on capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) with and without solid-phase extraction (SPE) and the derivatizing reagent 5-(4,6-dichlorotriazinyl)amino fluoresencin. The conditions for derivatization, separation and extraction were investigated in detail, and the optimal labeling conditions include a temperature of 400C, a reaction time of 30 min, and the use of a borate buffer of pH 9.0 as the reaction medium. A borate buffer of pH 9.2 served as a background electrolyte for CE separations. The CE-LIF and SPE-CE-LIF methods have linear ranges of 5-200 nmol L-1 and 0.2-10 nmol L-1, respectively, and the limits of detection are 0.5 and 0.02 nmol L-1, respectively. The SPE-CE-LIF method was successfully applied to the determination of gabapentin in blood plasma samples. (author)