ABSTRACT: There are concerns about the stability of meropenem in plasma samples, even when frozen at -20 °C. Previous smaller studies suggested significant degradation of meropenem at -20 °C after 3-20 days. However, in several recent clinical studies, meropenem plasma samples were still stored at -20 °C, or the storage temperature and/or time were not mentioned in the paper. The aim of this study was to describe and model meropenem degradation in human plasma at -20 °C over 1 year. Stability of meropenem in human plasma at -20 °C was investigated at seven concentrations (0.44, 4.38, 17.5, 35.1, 52.6, 70.1, and 87.6 mg/L) representative for the range of relevant concentrations encountered in clinical practice. For each concentration, samples were stored for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84, 112, 140, 168, 196, 224, 252, 280, 308, 336, and 364 days at -20 °C before being transferred to -80 °C until analysis. Degradation was modeled using polynomial regression analysis and artificial neural network (ANN). Meropenem showed significant degradation over time in human plasma when stored at -20 °C. Degradation was present over the whole concentration range and increased with higher concentrations until a concentration of 35.1 mg/L. Both models showed accurate prediction of meropenem degradation. In conclusion, this study provides detailed insights into the concentration-dependent degradation of meropenem in human plasma stored at -20 °C over 1 year. Meropenem in human plasma is shown to be stable at least up to approximately 80 days when stored at -20 °C. The polynomial model allows calculating original meropenem concentrations in samples stored for a known period of time at -20 °C.
