Ampicillin Pharmacokinetics During First Week of Life in Preterm and Term Neonates

Ampicillin is 1 of the most commonly used antibiotics for treatment of early onset sepsis, but its pharmacokinetics (PK) is poorly characterized. We aimed to define the dose of ampicillin for late preterm and term neonates by evaluating its PK in serum, cerebrospinal (CSF), and epithelial lining fluid.

A prospective study included neonates receiving ampicillin for suspected or proven early onset sepsis and pneumonia. PK samples were collected at steady state, at predose and 5 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, 8 hours, and 12 hours after ampicillin 3-minute infusion. Ampicillin concentrations were measured by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography. Noncompartmental anaysis (NCA) and population pharmacokinetic (pop-PK) modeling were performed and probability of therapeutic target attainment was simulated.

In 14 neonates (GA of 32-42 wks; mean BW 2873 g), PK parameters (mean ± SD) in NCA were the following: half-life 7.21 ± 7.97 hours; volume of distribution (Vd) 1.07 ± 0.51 L; clearance (CL) 0.20 ± 0.13 L/h; 24-hour area under the concentration-time curve 348.92 ± 114.86 mg*h/L. In pop-PK analysis, a 2-compartmental model described the data most adequately with the final parameter estimates of CL 15.15 (CV 40.47%) L/h/70kg; central Vd 24.87 (CV 37.91%) L/70kg; intercompartmental CL 0.39 (CV 868.56) L/h and peripheral Vd 1.039 (CV 69.32%) L. Peutic target attainment simulations demonstrated that a dosage of 50 mg/kg q 12 hours attained 100% fT > MIC 0.25 mg/L, group B streptococcal breakpoint.

We recommend ampicillin dosage 50 mg/kg q 12 hours for neonates with gestational age ≥32 weeks during the first week of life.