Pharmacokinetics of cefamandole in osseous tissue.

The ability of cefamandole to cross osseous capillary membranes and its concentrations in interstitial fluid spaces are studied in canine cortical bone. Extraction studies were performed by using indicator dilution techniques and demonstrated that cefamandole readily traversed osseous capillary membranes. Volume-of-distribution studies demonstrated that cefamandole was distributed in the plasma and interstitial fluid spaces of cortical bone. There was a direct correlation between the calculated concentrations of cefamandole in the interstitial fluid spaces of bone and the simultaneous serum levels determined by bioassay in animals in which a steady-state equilibrium had been achieved. This suggests that the less expensive and more readily available serum bioassay technique is more useful than bone bioassays in monitoring the osseous concentrations of cefamandole.