Studies on Effects of Antibiotics on Pyrogen Tests

To estimate the effect of some injectable antibiotics (ampicillin sodium, cefazolin sodium, cephaloridine, cefuroxime sodium and chloramphenicol sodium succinate) on pyrogen tests, the Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) test and an ultrafiltration technique were used. The rabbit pyrogen test was also used in the case of cafazolin sodium. At high antibiotic concentrations, these samples which were artificially contaminated with endotoxin inhibited the gelation reaction of LAL. But the gelation reaction occurred when most of the antibiotic was removed by ultrafiltration. Likewise, cefazolin sodium interfered not only with the LAL test but also with the rabbit pyrogen test. From these results it can be said that special modification to eliminate interference should be taken into consideration for valid method of pyrogen tests in the parenteral products containing these antibiotics.