SIMPLE AND SENSITIVE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF CEFETAMET IN PLASMA

A simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of cefetamet in plasma was developed. The method employs cefatoxime sodium as internal standard. Separation of the drug from plasma was achieved after precipitation of plasma protein with 3% perchloric acid followed by reversed phase chromatography on a 5 mum C-18 absorbosphere column with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile-water (40:60 %, v/v) with the addition of 1 ml glacial acetic acid for each 500 ml of mobile phase, pumped isocratically at flow rate of 1.7 ml/min. The effluent was monitored at 265 nm with the eluting solvent. Cefetamet and internal standards were well separated from endogenous components of plasma. A linear relationship was obtained between ratio of the peak height of the drug to that of the internal standard versus the concentration of the drug. The detection limit for determination of cefetamet in plasma is 100 ng/ml. Within-day coefficients of variation (CV) ranged from 1.1 to 2.7% and between day CV varied from 2 to 5.48%.