J Vet Sci. 2006 Jun;7(2):151-155   
 

Influence of endotoxin induced fever on the pharmacokinetics of intramuscularly administered cefepime in rabbits

Ayman Goudah1, Samar M. Mouneir1, Jae-Han Shim2, A. M. Abd El-Aty1,2,*

 

1Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, 12211-Giza, Egypt. abdelaty44@hotmail.com
2Natural Products Chemistry Laboratory, Division of Applied Bioscience and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea

 

This study examined the effect of experimentally induced fever on the pharmacokinetics of cefepime (75 mg/kg BW) administered intramuscularly to six rabbits. The study was carried out in two consecutive phases separated by a two-week washout period. An infection was induced by an intravenous inoculation of 5 × 108 colony-forming units of Escherichia coli 24 h before the pharmacokinetic investigation. A quantitative microbiological assay was employed to measure the plasma cefepime concentrations using an agar-gel diffusion method with Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 as the test organism. Twenty-four hour after the injection, the rectal temperature in the infected animals increased by 1°C. There was a significant reduction in the elimination halflife by 21.8% in the febrile rabbits compared to healthy animals. In addition, the infection significantly increased the peak plasma concentrations by 11.9%, the mean residence time by 19.9%, the area under the plasmaconcentration- time curve by 53.6% and the area under the moment curve by 62.3%. In conclusion, the endotoxin-induced febrile state produced significant changes in the plasma levels as well as some of the pharmacokinetic variables of cefepime in rabbits.