Determination of erythromycin A in rat plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection using Tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(II)

A simple and sensitive method was developed for the determination of erythromycin A (EA), decladinosyl erythromycin A (dClEA) and erythromycin B (EB) in rat plasma and urine by high‐performance liquid chromatography with electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection using Tris(2,2′‐bipyridine)ruthenium(II). The recovery rates of EA, dClEA and EB were 97, 94 and 85% from rat plasma and 89, 83 and 93% from rat urine, respectively. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration ranges 0.05–5 µg/mL for plasma and 0.5–50 µg/mL for urine. The precision and accuracy for all analytes in rat plasma were ≤9.0 and −6.3–7.2%, and those in urine were ≤9.4% and −6.1–7.6%, respectively. This method proved to be a powerful tool for determination of EA, dClEA and EB concentrations in samples from rats. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.