Determination of brodimoprim and its hydroxy metabolite in human plasma, blood and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed to measure the concentration of brodimoprim and its metabolite, hydroxybrodimoprim, in small volumes of blood, plasma and urine. The procedure involved a simple extraction step with chloroform, followed by chromatographic separation on a short reversed-phase column deactivated for the analysis of basic compounds. The column effluent was monitored by fluorescence (excitation wavelength 290 nm, emission wavelength 340 nm). The recoveries of both compounds were similar in all three biological fluids, and averaged 84 and 72%, respectively. The detection limit for both compounds reached 5 ng/ml. No endogenous compound interfered in the assay. The linearity of the method and its within- and between-day precision were analytically satisfactory.

Antipyretic effects of nimesulide in paediatric practice: a double-blind study

A double-blind, multi-centre study was carried out in 42 hospitalized children, aged 6 months to 8 years, suffering from acute respiratory tract infections with fever, to investigate the antipyretic activity of nimesulide. On entry, patients were allocated at random to receive either nimesulide oral suspension, 5 mg/kg/day divided into 3 daily doses, for 5 days or placebo. Both groups were treated simultaneously with antibiotics: children under 5 years of age received 100 mg amoxycillin/kg/day, those over 5 years received 40 to 50 mg erythromycin/kg/day. Measurements of rectal temperature before and during the 6 hours after the first dose of nimesulide showed a significant mean decrease from a baseline value of 38.89 +/- 0.74 degrees C to 37.28 +/- 0.76 degrees C at 6 hours. In the placebo group, no significant changes were observed between baseline (38.82 +/- 0.67 degrees C) and the 6-hour value (38.28 +/- 1 degree C). Morning temperatures remained within the normal range on the following days. Nimesulide was well tolerated. The results indicate that nimesulide has a prompt antipyretic effect which may well be clinically helpful before the correct antibiotic therapy is effectively established.