Development, validation and application of a stability indicating HPLC method to quantify lidocaine from polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate (EVA) matrices and biological fluids

An efficient and cost-effective quantification procedure for lidocaine by HPLC has been developed to estimate lidocaine from an EVA matrix, plasma, peritoneal fluid and intra-articular fluid (IAF). This method guarantees the resolution of lidocaine from the degradation products obtained from alkaline and oxidative stress. Chromatographic separation of lidocaine was achieved with a retention time of 7 min using a C18 column with a mobile phase comprising acetonitrile and potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (pH 5.5; 0.02 M) in the ratio of 26:74 at a flow rate of 1 mL min-1 with detection at 230 nm. Instability of lidocaine was observed to an oxidizing (0.02% H2O2) and alkaline environments (0.1 M NaOH). The calibration curve was found to be linear within the concentration range of 0.40-50.0 μg/mL. Intra-day and inter-day accuracy ranged between 95.9% and 99.1%, with precision (% RSD) below 6.70%. The limit of quantification and limit of detection were 0.40 μg/mL and 0.025 μg/mL, respectively. The simple extraction method described enabled the quantification of lidocaine from an EVA matrix using dichloromethane as a solvent. The assay and content uniformity of lidocaine within an EVA matrix were 103 ± 3.60% and 100 ± 2.60%, respectively. The ability of this method to quantify lidocaine release from EVA films was also demonstrated. Extraction of lidocaine from plasma, peritoneal fluid and IAF followed by HPLC analysis confirmed the utility of this method for ex vivo and in vivo studies where the calibration plot was found to be linear from 1.60 to 50.0 μg/mL.