Analysis of meloxicam by high-performance liquid chromatography with cloud-point extraction

A simple cloud-point extraction method for the determination of meloxicam in human serum was developed. Meloxicam was extracted from serum sample after adding 1 mL of 3% (v/v) Triton X-114 aqueous solution in the presence of 1M HCl and 60 mg NaCl. The meloxicam, present in the surfactant-rich phase, was enriched again with acetonitrile. Tenoxicam was used as the external standard. The separation was achieved on a C18 analytical column with a mobile phase consisting of aqueous acetic acid (1%, v/v) and acetonitrile (54:46, v/v). UV detection was performed at 360 nm. The response was linear over the range 45-2000 ng mL(-1) in human serum, and intra- and interday precisions of less than 15.0% were obtained. The relative error was within +/-3.0%. The recoveries of meloxicam were larger than 92.0%. The method was compared with liquid-liquid extraction. The results showed that the new method has a considerable LOQ and higher recoveries but poorer precision than liquid-liquid extraction, which exhibited poor recoveries of less than 86.0%, precisions of less than 5.0% and relative errors of less than 7.0%. The method was used for the determination of meloxicam in healthy human volunteers.