A simple and sensitive assay for cefepime in human plasma using high performance liquid chromatography

A simple and sensitive assay method was developed for cefepime in human plasma using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Cefepime and cefadroxil (the internal standard) were extracted from heparinized human plasma by simple deproteination with perchloric acid. The extract was injected into an Atlantis dC18 column (250 × 4.6 mm; particle size 5 μm, Waters) and the column was eluted with methanol and 0.01 M dihydrogen phosphate at pH 3.0 (15 : 85 v : v) as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.7 mL/min. Linearity was confirmed for the range 0.25 to 200 μL/mL and the limit of quantitation was 0.25 μL/mL. The retention times were 10.2 min and 13.4 min for cefepime and cefadroxil, respectively. This method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of cefepime in plasma from bone marrow transplant patients.