Pharmacokinetics of sulfadiazine and trimethoprim in man

Sulfadiazine (SDZ) 800 mg and trimethoprim (TMP) 160 mg were given orally to 10 normal subjects and the concentration of SDZ and TMP in serum and urine was followed for 24 h. Both drugs showed a significant negative correlation between individual “peak” concentrations in serum and the body weight of the subject. Twelve hours after dosing the serum concentration was 12 to 25 µg/ml for SDZ and 0.3 to 1.1 µg/ml for TMP. Individual concentration ratios between SDZ and TMP in serum were 4.8 (1 h) – 145 (24 h), and in the urine the ratio was close to 6 throughout the 24 h collection period. The range of urinary concentrations was from 65 to 400 µg/ml for SDZ and from 13.8 to 93.4 µg/ml for TMP. The fraction acetylated SDZ/acetylated SDZ + SDZ was 21% during the 0–8 h period, 33% during the 8–15 h period and 41% during the 15–24 period. The average values for the notional volume of distribution, Vd, were 0.36±0.13 1/kg for SDZ and 1.39±0.25 1/kg for TMP. The average “t1/2” was 15.2±7.4 h for SDZ and 7.4±1.9 h for TMP. Individual subjects showed a significant correlation between the serum clearance of TMP and SDZ (p