[Determination of ceftizoxime in serum by high performance liquid chromatography]

This paper reports the determination of ceftizoxime, a new cephalosporin antibiotic, in serum by RP-HPLC. The technique for serum protein precipitation by adding perchloric acid is adapted for sample preparations. After centrifugation, a 100 microliters portion of aqueous phase is injected into chromatographic column of ultrasphere CN, the mobile phase being a mixture of methanol and 1% acetic acid (15:85). The standard curve is linear within the range of 2.5-120 mg/L in serum. The detection limit of ceftizoxime in serum stands at 0.1 mg/L. The recoveries from serum samples after protein precipitation reach 95.4-96.3%. The within day CVs and interday CVs are 2.7-3.3% and 4.8-7.6%, respectively. This method is rapid, reliable and reproducible. It has been utilized to measure the concentration of ceftizoxime in patient serum for clinical research and pharmacokinetic studies.