title: Determination of meropenem levels in human serum by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.
abstract: Meropenem is a β-lactam broad-spectrum antibiotic and belongs to the subgroup of carbapenems. It is primarily used in intensive care units for intravenous treatment of severe infections. To avoid bacterial resistance or toxic side effects, the determination of serum meropenem concentration is highly advisable. A simple and fast method for the quantitative determination of meropenem in human serum using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC/UV) was developed and validated. Meropenem was determined by an isocratic HPLC using a tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffer (pH 8.5; 15% methanol) as a mobile phase and UV detection at 300 nm, with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and an analysis time of 10 min. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Kinetex C18column (5 μm, 150 × 4.6 mm). In order to remove undesired serum components, solid-phase extraction was used for sample preparation. Since meropenem is not stable in solution, sample and stock solution were stored at -80°C. After preparation, samples were stable at room temperature for at least 6 h. The calibration curve was linear from 3.5 to 200 mg/L with a correlation coefficient r2of 0.999. The method is accurate with an intra- and inter-assay precision <18.5%.
authors: Central Laboratory, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Roth
authors: Central Laboratory, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Stella
authors: S
authors: Fiedler
authors: Central Laboratory, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Sidonia
authors: S
authors: Mihai
authors: Central Laboratory, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Parsch
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000097:blood; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods; D002138:Calibration; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004355:Drug Stability; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D000077731:Meropenem; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet / Q000379:methods; D013845:Thienamycins / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D013845:Thienamycins; D000077731:Meropenem
keywords: HPLC-UV; meropenem; solid-phase extraction; stability of meropenem; therapeutic drug monitoring