DETERMINATION OF SERUM CHLORPROMAZINE METABOLITES IN PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS

Abstract

Serum chlorpromazine glucuronides found in psychotic patients who were receiving chlorpro-mazine medications were characterized on chromatograms. A method for a quantitative determination of both of the nonpolar metabolites (unchanged chlorpromazine and its sulfoxide) and the polar metabolites (chlorpromazine glucuronides), is presented. In all cases, chlorpro-mazine glucuronides were the major metabolites of chlorpromazine in serum. The overall average of serum levels of the polar metabolites was found to be 12.66 [mu]g/ml; that of the nonpolar metabolites, 0.76 [mu]g/ ml. It was observed that the nonpolar metabolites appeared in both stream first, followed by the polar metabolites. The former declined rapidly while the latter maintained above a determinable level in blood until 22 hours after the first dose.