Validation and Application of an LC-MS-MS Method for the Determination of Ceftizoxime in Human Serum and Urine

Ceftizoxime sodium is a third-generation cephalosporin available for parenteral administration, which is mainly excreted through urine. A rapid and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS-MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of ceftizoxime in human serum and urine. The samples were purified by protein precipitation and separated on an XTerra Phenyl column (4.6x50 mm, 5 mu m). Electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode and multiple reaction monitoring were used to monitor the ion transitions at m/z 383.9/227.0. The results revealed that the method had excellent selectivity. The linear range covered from 2.50 to 10,000 ng/mL in serum and from 0.500 to 50.0 mu g/mL in urine, respectively. Intra-batch and inter-batch precisions (in terms of relative standard deviation) were all <15% and the accuracies (in terms of relative error) were within the range of +/- 15%. The lower limit of quantification, stability and extraction recovery were also validated and satisfied the criteria of validation. Finally, the method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of Chinese elderly healthy subjects after intravenous administration. The C-max values in serum were 34,721.3 +/- 5,697.3 ng/mL. Serum concentrations declined with t(1/2) of 2.57 +/- 0.22 h.