Development and Validation of a Liquid Chromatographic Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Estradiol, Estriol, Estrone, and Progesterone in Pharmaceutical Preparations

Progesterone and estrogens are hormones produced in the human body that are essential for regulating many vital functions. The three major estrogens produced by women are estriol, estradiol, and estrone. Progesterone is a naturally occurring hormone in both men and women. Pharmaceuticals containing estrogens alone or estrogens in combination with progesterone are commonly used in therapy. Patients requiring unique combinations of the drugs rely on pharmacies to compound the ingredients. In order to assess the potency of drugs containing combinations of estrogens and progesterone, a method was developed to determine all four ingredients simultaneously. The liquid chromatographic method utilized a microBondapak C18 column with an isocratic mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (50 + 50, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and temperature of 30 degrees C. Under these conditions, the order of elution was estriol, estradiol, and estrone, followed by progesterone. UV detection was at 205 nm to monitor elution of the estrogens, then switched to 270 nm to monitor progesterone. The method was applied to the analysis of pharmacy-compounded drugs containing combinations of the hormones. Validation studies demonstrated that the method is accurate and precise.