A method for the quantification of intracellular zidovudine nucleotides. 
An assay to quantify the phosphorylation products of zidovudine (AZT) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was developed.  Extracts of PBMC were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography.  Eluted AZT mono- (MP), di- (DP), and triphosphate (TP) were collected in separate portions.  Treatment with alkaline phosphatase yielded equimolar amounts of AZT, which after solid-phase enrichment were assayed by radioimmunoassay.  Detection limit was 0.1 pmol/10(6) PBMC for each nucleotide.  Recoveries of 102%-118% were observed.  AZT nucleotides were measured in samples from three patients receiving 250 mg of AZT every 12 h. Intracellular concentrations of AZT-MP after 1-2 h ranged from 0.9 to 1.4 pmol/10(6) PBMC and then declined to 0.3-1.1 pmol/10(6) PBMC after 4 h. AZT-DP and AZT-TP reached concentrations of 0.3-0.5 pmol/10(6) PBMC after 1-2 h and could not be detected after 4 h in any of the three patients.  Duplicate determinations deviated by less than 20%.