Analysis of Acetylsalicylic Acid and Its Metabolites by Liquid Chromatography

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Abstract
The salicylates are the most commonly used analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory drugs. Measurement of serum levels of salicylate is important not only in the diagnosis and management of patients poisoned with salicylate, but also in therapeutic drug monitoring of arthritic patients on high dose salicylate therapy. While high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assays for these routine clinical measurements offer no distinct advantage over the colorimetric assays, they are indispensable in studying aspirin metabolism because of the ease with which HPLC assays can simultaneously measure aspirin and its metabolites. The superior sensitivity of HPLC assays compared to other techniques is needed for pharmacokinetic studies and for monitoring serum aspirin and salicylate levels following administration of low doses of aspirin for its anti-platelet aggregation effect. This paper will review the most recently published HPLC salicylate assays in terms of specimen collection and preparation, chromatographic conditions, and the different requirements of pharmacokinetic and clinical uses of salicylate measurements.