LC determination of curcumin in dog plasma for a pharmacokinetic study

A rapid, simple, and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for quantification of curcumin in dog plasma has been developed and validated. After addition of the internal standard (berberine), plasma was acidified and extracted with ethyl acetate. Analysis was performed on a C ₁₈ column. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-5% acetic acid, 52:48 (v/v) and the flow rate 1.0 mL min^-1. The eluent was monitored at 425 nm. Chromatographic separation was achieved in less than 7 min and the calibration plot was linear over the concentration range 2-128 ng mL ^-1. Intra- and inter-assay variability were less than 7.3%. The accuracy ranged from 98.7 to 105.0%. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of curcumin in dogs.