Moment analysis for disposition kinetics of several cephalosporin antibiotics in rats.

Disposition kinetics of cefamandole, cefoperazone, cefotiam, cefmenoxime and cefmetazole following rapid intravenous injection into rats is investigated. The plasma concentrations of the antibiotics are determined by the high performance liquid chromatographic method, and the pharmacokinetic behaviours of the cephalosporins are evaluated by moment analysis which is a model-independent method. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the paired t-test reveals that cefmetazole and cefmenoxime have greater mean residence time (MRT) than cefotiam, cefamandole and cefoperazone, and that cefamandole and cefmetazole show larger steady-state volume of distribution (Vss) than the other cephalosporins. Cefamandole has the greatest total body clearance (40.2 ml kg-1 min-1) and cefmenoxime the smallest (7.72 ml kg-1 min-1).