[Ciprofloxacin and cefotaxim: pharmacokinetic and therapeutic effectiveness in E. coli pyelonephritis in rats]

Ciprofloxacin was tested in the acute and chronic experimental E.coli pyelonephritis in rats. Its therapeutic efficacy was compared with that of cefotaxime. In the acute pyelonephritis increasing doses resulted in increasing elimination of bacteria from the kidneys. Ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime showed no difference in the efficiency in therapy of the acute pyelonephritis. In chronic pyelonephritis ciprofloxacin proved to be more effective than cefotaxime in spite of identical in vitro activity. Pharmacokinetic data showed that ciprofloxacin was eliminated more slowly than cefotaxime. The long serum half-life and the high volume of distribution could be responsible for the high therapeutic efficacy and could outweigh the disadvantage of metabolic instability.