Determination of 3-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid in analytical and biological samples using streamlined and robust RP-HPLC method

Abstract

AKBA (3-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid) is a phytoconstituent derived from Boswellia serrata extract and utilized in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. Drug delivery approaches showed interest in delivering AKBA with advanced nanotechnology. There is a need for a simple, sensitive, and robust HPLC method that can determine AKBA in complex nanoformulation and in vitro and ex vivo samples. In the proposed work, the RP-HPLC method was developed using a mobile phase comprising a mixture of acetonitrile : milli Q (90 : 10) at detection λ_max 250 nm. The method exhibited a linearity of 250 to 20 000 ng mL⁻¹ with a high correlation coefficient of 1. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for the analytes were found to be 41.32 ng mL⁻¹ and 125.21 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. In the accuracy study, the % recovery of AKBA was found to be 98% to 102%, and the precision study showed less than 2% relative standard deviation. The developed method was found to be robust under chromatographic conditions with changes in pH and mobile phase mixture ratio. The method was also explored for forced degradation study, and the results showed the successful separation of degradation products from the AKBA. Further, the RP-HPLC method was applied for the quantification of AKBA in topical nanoformulations and different matrices, such as skin matrices and adhesive tapes. The method was able to measure entrapment efficiency (93.13 ± 1.94%), drug loading (25.83 ± 0.54%), drug assay in a gel matrix (96.99 ± 3.89%), drug amount in stratum corneum (7.90 ± 0.62 μg cm⁻²), and drug amount in viable skin layers (33.94 ± 0.21 μg cm⁻²) with high-speed reproducibility. The developed method can be utilized for the routine analysis of AKBA in conventional and complex formulations in academia and industry.