Development of a dispersive liquid?ionic liquid microextraction method for the determination of nifurtimox and benznidazole in human breast milk

PADRÓ, JUAN M.; PELLEGRINO VIDAL, ROCÍO; AGUDELO MESA, LEIDY B.; CALIFANO, ALICIA N.; MARSÓN, MARÍA ELENA; MASTRANTONIO, GUIDO E.; RETA, MARIO

Amsterdam

Simposio; 39th International Symposium on High-Performance-Liquid-Phase Separations and Related Techniques; 2013

International Separation Science Society

Chagas disease, an infection caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, constitutes a major public health problem in Latin America. The two drugs currently available for the treatment, nifurtimox (NFX) and benznidazole (BNZ), seem to be associated to high risks of toxicity. Initial infections with T. cruzi take place mostly in children, by vector or congenital transmission. As vector control improves, congenital transmission is rapidly becoming the main route of infection, highlighting the importance of the diagnosis of maternal infection. Human breast milk is a biological sample of great importance for the analysis of therapeutic drugs, as unwanted exposure through breast milk could result in pharmacological effects in the nursing infant. The goal of breast milk drug analysis is to inquire to which extent a neonate may be exposed to a drug during lactation. In this work, we developed a simple and efficient method to quantify BNZ and NF in human breast milk, with a simple pre-treatment that involves protein precipitation and incubation followed by a dispersive liquid?ionic liquid microextraction (DLILME), previous to an HPLC/UV analysis. For the DLILME technique, the ionic liquid (IL) 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate has been used. According to a previous work, four significant variables were selected to define the experimental field: volume of ionic liquid, volume of disperser solvent, %w/v KCl and pH. A central composite design (CCD) was used and mmathematical models able to describe the system were obtained, thus allowing finding the optimal conditions for the analysis. The pH and volume of IL significantly affected the extraction response of BNZ, while for NFX, volume of IL and the interaction term ?volume of ILx%KCl? were significant. At the optimum working conditions, the predicted recoveries were 72.4 % and 86.4 % for BNZ and NFX, respectively. Real samples were analysed and figures of merit were obtained.