Some Pharmacodynamic Aspects of Cefepime

Some pharmacodynamic effects of cefepime, a new injectable semisynthetic cephalosporin, were studied in laboratory animals and the following results were obtained. Cefepime maximally stimulated isolated guinea pig's ileum, rat's colon (80 μg/mL bath), and rabbit's duodenum (400 μg/mL bath). Contrarily, complete relaxation of isolated rat's fundic strip was produced by 80 μg/mL bath. Effects of cefepime on isolated rat's uterine muscle were different according to stage of sex cycle. Cefepime did not induce any effects on the resting tonus of isolated guinea pig's tracheal chain and rabbit's aortic strip. Concentrations of 200 and 400 μg/mL bath induced marked inhibition in the force of muscular twitches of the isolated frog's gastrocnemius muscle which was less potent than that induced by procaine hydrochloride 2%. Cefepime completely blocked the neuromuscular transmission of frog's rectus abdominis muscle (40 μg/mL bath) and rat's phrenic nerve hemidiaphragm preparation (200 μg/mL bath). This blockade was reversed by acetylcholine and neostigmine. Cefepime produced dose-dependent negative inotropic effect on isolated rabbit's heart and guinea pig's auricles. There were no changes in blood pressure and rate of respiration in anaesthetized dog after cefepime injection. These findings indicate that cefepime has a low potential to produce adverse reactions at therapeutic doses.