To understand the reaction between hydralazine (HP) or its acetone hydrazone (HAH), a metabolite of HP and pyruvic acid, a new selective HPLC method for simultaneous determination of HP, HAH, and hydralazine pyruvic acid hydrazone (HPH) was developed. In vitro degradation of HAH and formation of HP and HPH were investigated at pH 7.4 and 37 degrees C in the presence or absence of pyruvic acid. Hydralazine degraded slowly according to an apparent first-order rate (7.46 x 10(-2)h-1). The degenerative reaction of HAH, accompanied by simultaneous hydrolysis to the parent drug HP, was also subject to apparent first-order loss (3.00 x 10(-1)h-1). In addition, HAH was partly converted to HP and HPH in the presence of pyruvic acid. For the formation pathway of HPH, a model that included the direct reaction of HAH with pyruvic acid and the secondary formation mediated by back-conversion to HP gave a better fit to the experimental data than the model consisting of the latter reaction only. About 10% of the HPH formed was generated by the direct reaction of HAH with pyruvic acid, based on the rate constants estimated. These results suggest that the formation of HPH is not all accomplished through back-conversion to HP.