Sustainable TLC-densitometric method for pharmacokinetic study of the concurrently used ibuprofen and metronidazole: Green metric assessment

Abstract

Combination therapy with metronidazole has been demonstrated to be superior in surgical site infections and pain treatment protocols. Ibuprofen, on the other hand, is an effective and safe medication with long duration of action for patients with post-operative pain.In this investigation, in vivo estimation of metronidazole and ibuprofen was performed, followed by a pharmacokinetic study using an ecological TLC-densitometric approach. Separation of drugs and the internal standard, furosemide from plasma matrix was performed using ethyl acetate: ethanol: ammonium hydroxide solution 33% (5:5:0.1, by volume) on TLC silica gel 60 F254 plates and scanning at 220.0 nm and 310 nm. The method was sensitive for metronidazole and ibuprofen in the ranges of 0.1–2.5 and 0.1–3.0 µg/band, respectively.Furthermore, the devised method’s performance was evaluated by analyzing various samples obtained from volunteers at different time intervals who received either a single medication or a combination of drugs. The information gathered was utilized to investigate the pharmacokinetic properties of both medicines. According to the findings of the pharmacokinetic study, co-administration of metronidazole and ibuprofen increased their maximum plasma concentrations and time required to reach this concentration. It was also discovered that ibuprofen greatly influenced the bioavailability and distribution of metronidazole. Accordingly, care should be taken when both medications are used simultaneously, especially for metronidazole, which requires dose regulation. Furthermore, different novel Green analytical chemistry metrics were applied to assess the suggested method, including GABI, RGB colored tool, AGREE, and hexagon. The results revealed that the developed analytical approach had a negligible environmental impact.