Abstract
9,10-anthracenedicarboxaldehyde bis[(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole-2-yl) hydrazone] dihydrochloride, (Bisantrene, CL 216,942, or NSC-337766) (Fig. 1) is a new anthracenedione derivative which has significant antitumor activity in a number of animal tumor systems including L1210 leukemia, P388 leukemia, Liberman plasma cell tumor, B16 melanoma, Ridgeway osteogenic sarcoma and colon tumor 26 in mice (1). Although structurally, it bears some resemblance to doxorubicin, bisantrene differs in producing less myocardial toxicity at equitoxic doses. Therefore, Bisantrene may be a useful antitumor agent in doxorubicin sensitive tumors (2). In order to study the pharmacokinetics of the agent in conjunction with the phase I and II clinical trial in our institute, we developed an analytical method for Bisantrene. The sampling and analytical methods are rapid, reproducible, highly sensitive and applicable to the determination of the agent in plasma, urine and cerebrospinal fluid.
