Pentazocine (PZ) in rat hair and plasma was determined by HPLC-fluorescence detection with 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoyl chloride (DIB-Cl) as a labelling reagent and cyclazocine (CZ) as an internal standard (IS). PZ and IS extracted from hair or plasma sample were derivatized with DIB-Cl and the resulted solution was cleaned up with solid phase extraction. The isocratic separation of DIB-PZ and -CZ within 20 min could be achieved by a Wakopak Handy-ODS column (250 x 4.6 mm i.d.) using a mobile phase composed of 0.1 mol/L acetate buffer (pH 6.2):acetonitrile (25:75, v/v). The detection limits of PZ at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 for rat hair and plasma were 0.18 ng/mg and 0.57 ng/mL, respectively. Reproducible and precise results could be obtained by an IS method with RSD values less than 6.6% for within- and between-day measurements. The method was successfully applied for the monitoring of PZ levels in Zucker rat hair and plasma samples after a single administration of 25 mg/kg PZ. Moreover, incorporation rates of PZ into black and white hair of Zucker rat were evaluated.
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