DETERMINATION OF CEFODIZIME IN HUMAN PLASMA BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH COLUMN-SWITCHING

A column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic assay with ultraviolet detection, at 263 nm, was developed to determine cefodizime, a new parenteral cephalosporin, in human plasma. The method is based on pre-column extraction in a closed system allowing direct injection of plasma samples without any sample pretreatment. The method allows direct, rapid, precise, and simple determination of cefodizime in plasma over the range of 1-400 mu g/ml using a 100 mu l loop and 25 mu l of plasma. The detection limit of the assay was 0.1 mu g/ml. Recovery for spiked plasma samples was near 100% and relative retention time showed good repeteability. An application of the method to study the pharmacokinetics of cefodizime in immunodepressed patients is given.