Determination of recent antidepressant citalopram in human plasma by liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection

A reliable and sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of the recent antidepressant citalopram and two metabolites in human plasma has been developed. Fluorescence detection at 300 nm was used, exciting at 238 nm. Separation was obtained using a reversed-phase column (C18, 250x3.0 mm i.d., 5 mm) and a mobile phase: 40 % acetonitrile: 60 % aqueous tetramethylammonium perchlorate (pH 1.9). Calibration curves were linear over a working range 5-300 ng mL-1 for citalopram, 2.5-150.0 ng mL-1 for desmethylcitalopram and 2.5-50.0 ng mL-1 for didesmethylcitalopram. The limits of quantitation (LOQ) were 1.5 ng mL-1 for citalopram and desmethylcitalopram and 2.0 1.5 ng mL-1 for didesmethylcitalopram. Precision data, as well as accuracy, were satisfactory and no interference from different psychotropic drugs was found. The method was therefore suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring of citalopram and its active metabolites in plasma of depressed patient.