Determination of nikethamide by micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

A simple, fast, sensitive and reproducible micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC)-UV method for the determination of nikethamide (NKD) in human urine and pharmaceutical formulation has been developed and validated. The method exhibits high trueness, good precision, short analysis time and low reagent consumption. NKD is an organic compound belonging to the psychoactive stimulants used as an analeptic drugs. The proposed analytical procedure consists of few steps: dilution of urine or drug in distilled water, centrifugation for 2 min (12,000g), separation by MEKC and ultraviolet-absorbance detection of NKD at 260 nm. The background electrolyte used was 0.035 mol/L pH 9 borate buffer with the addition of 0.05 mol/L sodium dodecyl sulfate and 6.5% ACN. Effective separation was achieved within 5.5 min under a voltage of 21 kV (~90 µA) using a standard fused-silica capillary (effective length 51 cm, 75 µm i.d.). The determined limit of detection for NKD in urine was 1 µmol/L (0.18 µg/mL). The calibration curve obtained for NKD in urine showed linearity in the range 4-280 µmol/L (0.71-49.90 µg/mL), with R2 0.9998. The RSD of the points of the calibration curve varied from 5.4 to 9.5%. The analytical procedure was successfully applied to analysis of pharmaceutical formulation and spiked urine samples from healthy volunteers.

NMR detection in biofluid extracts at sub-µM concentrations via para-H2 induced hyperpolarization.

NMR spectroscopy is one of the most powerful techniques to simultaneously obtain qualitative and quantitative information in chemical analysis. Despite its versatility, the applications of NMR in the study of biofluids are often limited by the insensitivity of the technique, further aggravated by the poor signal dispersion in the (1)H spectra. Recent advances in para-H2 induced hyperpolarization have proven to address both these limitations for specific classes of compounds. Herein, this approach is for the first time applied for quantitative determination in biofluid extracts. We demonstrate that a combination of solid phase extraction, para-hydrogen induced hyperpolarization and selective NMR detection quickly reveals a doping substance, nikethamide, at sub-µM concentrations in urine. We suggest that this method can be further optimized for the detection of different analytes in various biofluids, anticipating a wider application of hyperpolarized NMR in metabolomics and pharmacokinetics studies in the near future.

Determination of nikethamide and N-ethylnicotinamide in the blood and urine of greyhounds.

Following the intramuscular administration of nikethamide to a series of greyhounds, both plasma and urine excretion levels were obtained. A qualitative urine screening procedure for both nikethamide and its major metabolite has been devised. The method involves solvent extraction, thin-layer and a two-system gas chromatographic system.

Excretion and metabolism of nikethamide in the horse.

It is well known that nikethamide (N,N-diethylnicotinamide, CoramineR) is metabolized very rapidly to nicotinamide. Hence, there is difficulty in proving that nikethamide has been used as a doping substance because nicotinamide is a normal physiological metabolite in the organism as well as a vitamin preparation. However, an intermediate metabolite (N-ethylnicotinamide) was found by us in the urine of horses treated with CoramineR. This was characterized by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and synthesized and identified as being N-ethylnicotinamide. The excretion and metabolism of nikethamide after intramuscular injection in the horse was followed using quantitative gas chromatography of urine extracts over a period of several hours and the results of these experiments are reported. Changes in urinary pH had no significant effect upon either the metabolism or rate of excretion of the drug.