Summary
The steady state pharmacokinetics of trimethoprim was determined after 300 mg orally once daily to 6 healty volunteers for 9 days. The microbiological assay of plasma level was unreliable at trimethoprim concentrations >4 µg/ml, so results from an HPLC-assay are given. Steady state was present after 3 days. The plasma concentration peaked 1 to 4 h (mean 2.0 h) after the dose at a mean of 6.0 µg/ml (range 3.1–9.5 µg/ml); the minimum value was 1.5 µg/ml (range 0.6–2.9 µg/ml). The mean AUCss was 77 µg/ml · h and the mean plasma clearancess was 67 and 74 ml/min on Days 8 and 9. Renal clearance was about 60% of the plasma clearance. The average plasma half life was 10.6 h (range 8.7–15.3 h). Thus, there was considerable interindividual variation in all pharmacokinetic parameters. 72 h after the last dose trimethoprim was detectable in plasma in only 1 of the 6 subjects. The minimum urinary concentration of trimethoprim during treatment was always well above (range 22 to 220 µg/ml) the MIC values for most urinary tract pathogens. Therefore, a daily dose of 300 mg trimethoprim results in a therapeutic concentration in urine at steady state that lasts throughout the dosing interval and in most subjects probably lasts also for a further 24 h. Trimethoprim administration raised mean serum creatinine from 67 to 97 µmol/l, probably due to competitive inhibition of the tubular secretion of creatinine.
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Odlind, B., Hartvig, P., Fjellström, K.E. et al. Steady state pharmacokinetics of trimethoprim 300 mg once daily in healthy volunteers assessed by two independent methods. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 26, 393–397 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00548773
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00548773