Abstract
The present study was performed to investigate the distribution of β-lactam antibiotics, cefotiam (CTM) and cefmenoxime (CMX) in pulmonary tissue of sheep.
The animals were prepared to form chronic lung-lymph fistula for the collection of lung lymph. CTM and CMX were administered bolus-intravenously at doses of 20mg/kg and 40mg/kg, respectively, and serum and lymph levels of each drug were measured by bioassay method.
Antibiotic levels of serum or lymph increased to a peak within 15 minutes after injection and then decreased rapidly. Measurable concentrations persisted for 240 minutes after the injection. Ratios of lung lumph to serum concentrations of CTM and CMX within 1 hour after the injection ranged 0.7 to 1.3, and 0.9 to 1.3, respectively. In addition, CMX levels in serum, lung lymph and tissues of both right and left lung were compared in anesthetized sheep to which CMX 50mg/kg was given. Ratios of lung lymph and tissue concentrations of CMX in right and left lung to serum concentration were 0.76, 0.14 and 0.13, respectively.
These results indicate that CTM and CMX were well distributed in interstitial fluid (lung lymph), and the levels of CMX in tissues of both right and left lung were markedly lower than those of lung lymph.
