Development of a spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of gatifloxacin in semen

Gatifloxacin is an 8-methoxyfluoroquinolone, which shows strong activity against a wide variety of microorganisms. It has been applied for the treatment of male genital tract infections caused by Chlamydia and Mycoplasma species, which are found in many men with asymptomatic infertility. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an analytical spectrofluorimetric method to quantify gatifloxacin in semen. Determination was carried out at pH 3.0, using 300 nm and 486 nm as excitation and emission wavelengths, respectively. The detection and quantification limits were 0.06 and 0.2 mu g/mL, respectively. The precision of the method expressed as the relative standard deviation (RSD) was 1.3% and the efficiency of recovery was in the range of 62%-72%. This method is fast, easy to perform, and allows the quantification of gatifloxacin in the semen of patients during treatment for genital tract infections; it could also be used with other biological fluids (serum, urine), after optimizing the test conditions.