A simple and rapid CZE method for the analysis of mycophenolic acid and its phenol glucuronide metabolite in human serum

A simple and rapid capillary electrophoretic method was developed for simultaneous determination of mycophenolic acid and its metabolite, phenol glucuronide, in human serum. The sample preparation in the proposed method required only the precipitation by acetonitrile. Separation was performed by capillary zone electrophoresis using 75 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) as running buffer, an applied voltage of 10 kV, and UV detection at 217 nm. Each serum sample analysis was completed within 15 min. The optimized method demonstrated good performance concerning specificity, linearity (r>0.9955), accuracy (95.9-113%), precision (<6.4%) and enough sensitivity for therapeutic drug monitoring. This method was successfully applied to measurements of mycophenolic acid and mycophenolic acid glucuronide in renal transplant patient samples and was a useful alternative to high-performance liquid chromatography-based methods.