To determine whether endotoxemia and release of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and/or interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) are involved in the pathogenesis of heatstroke, 17 adult patients with a mean rectal temperature of 42.1 +/- 0.2 degrees C were studied. Blood samples were taken on admission and after cooling was completed. TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content was measured by the chromogenic substrate modification of the Limulus amebocyte lysate. TNF-alpha, IL-1 alpha, and LPS were elevated in all patients [199 +/- 25 (SE) pg/ml, 480.5 +/- 68.3 pg/ml, and 8.60 +/- 1.19 ng/ml, respectively, compared with normal control values of 31.4 +/- 8.4 pg/ml, 53.7 +/- 5.32 pg/ml, and less than 9 pg/ml]. There was no significant correlation between temperature and the circulating concentration of TNF-alpha, IL-1 alpha, and LPS. Postcooling TNF-alpha, IL-1 alpha, and LPS concentrations were significantly decreased but still above normal control values. The findings suggest that these mediators may have a role in the pathogenesis of heatstroke that could change the strategy of management.

Caffeine has been used frequently in the treatment and prevention of apnea of prematurity. The metabolism of caffeine depends on the activities of the hepatic enzymes that vary from one infant to another. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of postnatal age (PNA), birth weight (BW), study weight (SW), gestational age (GA), postconceptual age (PCA), and gender on the maturation of caffeine metabolism in premature infants. The caffeine base was administered orally as a loading dose of 10 mg/kg, followed by a maintenance dose of 2 mg/kg every 24 hours. The steady-state concentration of caffeine and metabolites was measured in plasma taken on the 5th-day postloading dose. The molar concentration ratios for the N3 (N3-), N7 (N7-), N1 (N1-), and all methyl (Nall-) demethylation processes; clearance (CL); and the percentage of molar concentration of caffeine found in plasma to that of the total caffeine and metabolites (%CAF) were calculated from samples collected from 80 neonatal infants. The 48 male and 32 female premature infants had median (range) BW (g), GA (weeks), SW (g), PCA (weeks), and PNA (days) of 1300 (650-2260), 30 (24-34), 1630 (980-2670), 34 (29-40), and 28 (5-60), respectively. The median (range) of the ratios for the %CAF, CL, and the N3-, N7-, N1-, and Nall- were 86.9 (52.9-99.0), 0.127 (0.046-0.503) ml.kg-1.min-1, 0.032 (0-0.438), 0.070 (0.007-0.471), 0.026 (0-0.283), and 0.0463 (0.003-0.303), respectively. When the patients were stratified into four PNA age groups, each older group showed a consistently higher level of caffeine metabolic activity for the N3-, N7-, and Nall- pathways with a corresponding decrease in the %CAF, whereas no significant differences were seen for the N1-pathway or for CL. No pattern of significant differences between the demethylation process ratios, %CAF, or CL was seen between groups of infants when they were stratified according to BW, SW, PCA, or GA. The female infants were found to have significantly higher rates of caffeine metabolism as shown by %CAF, N1-, N3-, and Nall- processes but not the N7-. Multivariate linear regression analysis by two methods demonstrated that PNA is significantly related to %CAF and Nall-, whereas the female patients had higher levels of metabolic activity for the %CAF and N1- process. The authors conclude that the N7-demethy-lation process is the predominate caffeine metabolic process in premature infants. Furthermore, the maturation of the caffeine metabolism in premature infants with a PNA of less than 60 days increases with postnatal age, regardless of birth weight, gestational age, postconceptual age, and study weight. The female neonatal patients demonstrated a higher rate of caffeine metabolism than the males.

We examined in this study the pharmacokinetics of Sb in the affected skin and normal skin of patients treated with sodium stibogluconate for cutaneous leishmaniasis and compared the results with those for the blood. The procedure was fully explained, and a written consent was obtained from each of nine patients. After a dose of sodium stibogluconate equivalent to 600 mg of Sb was administered intramuscularly, small skin biopsies were collected under local anesthesia at different time intervals from the circumferences of the lesions and simultaneously from normal skin. Antimony was measured in these biopsies after suitable ashing and processing by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The means (with standard errors of the means in parentheses) of the peak concentration, time to peak concentration, area under the curve, half-life, and mean residence time in lesions were 5.02 (1.43) g/g, 2.1 (0.4) h, 32.8 (6.1) g ⅐ h/g, 6.88 (0.54) h, and 10.4 (1.2) h, respectively, and those in normal skin were 6.56 (2.01) g/g, 2.6 (0.8) h, 44.0 (15.8) g ⅐ h/g, 5.44 (0.83) h, and 8.08 (1.34) h, respectively. There was no significant difference in any of these parameters between lesions and normal skin, whereas the differences in peak concentration, half-life, and mean residence time between lesions and whole blood were significant (P Յ 0.05). The penetration of Sb into skin, either affected or normal, as measured by the skin/blood area under the curve ratio appears to be complete, but the disposition is slow compared with that from the blood.The best treatment for leishmaniasis is currently achieved with pentavalent antimonials in the form of sodium stibogluconate (SSG) or meglumine antimonate. However, because of the rapid blood clearance of these drugs (5,13,14,17), an increase in dose and dosing frequency has been recommended by the World Health Organization (18). The amount of exposure of the infectious parasite to pentavalent antimony is believed to be an important factor in eradicating the cutaneous leishmania disease. Thus, delivering the dose by intralesion injections of SSG has recently been advocated (8,10,15). When the drug is administered intramuscularly, the contact with the parasite is undoubtedly controlled by the rate and extent at which this metal reaches and leaves the lesions following the administration of SSG. Therefore, knowledge of the kinetics of the uptake and disposition of this metal in affected skin is vital for optimization of the dosage regimens of these drugs in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Although these drugs have been in use for more than four decades (11,16), no such study has yet been reported for SSG. Plasma kinetic data are clinically relevant to the extent that they reflect those of the site of action.We undertook to examine in this study the kinetics of Sb in the affected skin and normal skin of patients treated intramuscularly with sodium stibogluconate for cutaneous leishmaniasis and to compare the results with those for the blood samples of these patients. The impac...

Summary:The urinary excretion and pharmacokinetics of acrolein (ACRO) and its parent drug cyclophosphamide (CP) were investigated in 16 randomly selected bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients when CP was used for conditioning. Patients suffering from aplastic anemia (n = 3) received a 4-day course of CP at a dose of 50 mg/kg daily infused intravenously (i.v.) over 1 h. Patients with leukemia (n = 13) were given either a combination of busulphan followed by CP at a dose of 50 mg/kg infused i.v. over 1 h for 4 days, or CP at a dose of 60 mg/kg by i.v. infusion over 1 h daily for 2 days followed by total body irradiation. Serial plasma samples and urine were collected after the start of the first CP dose. CP was analyzed by capillary gas chromatography, whereas ACRO was measured in urine by Cyclophosphamide (CP) is an alkylating agent which requires metabolic activation to exhibit its antineoplastic and immunomodulating activities. Some of the metabolites formed are thought to cross-link with cellular DNA and thereby interfere with proliferation and ultimately lead to cell death. In bone marrow transplantation (BMT), CP is currently playing a major role as part of conditioning regimens. This treatment allows acceptance of the graft in allogenic BMT and serves in allo-as well as autologous BMT to eradicate malignant cells or create space in the marrow cavity. CP undergoes complicated metabolism involving several pathways in vivo. 1 The main pathway involves hydroxylation of CP by hepatic microsomal oxidases to form 4-hydroxy-cyclophosphamide (4OH-CP) which is in equilibrium with its acyclic tautomeric form, aldophosphamide (ALDO). These metabolites are transport forms of CP. Oxidation of ALDO by aldehyde dehydrogenase results in the noncytotoxic metabolite carboxyphosphamide. Dehydrogenation of 4OH-CP gives another inactive metabolite, 4-keto cyclophosphamide. The final stage of activation, which takes place in cells that are susceptible, involves cleavage of 4OH-CP/ALDO by a ␤-elimination reaction to yield phosphoramide mustard and ACRO both of which are highly cytotoxic and represent active forms of the drug. One of the major dose-limiting side-effects of CP is hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) 2 which has been attributed to the urinary excretion of its metabolites, particularly ACRO. [3][4][5] Hemorrhagic cystitis which occurs in a somewhat unpredictable way, may be the result of altered pharmacokinetics of CP or elevated formation and/or variation in the renal excretion of ACRO. It may also be ascribed to inadequate urinary concentration of mesna, 5 a uroprotective agent used for neutralizing the damaging effect of ACRO by chelation.This study was undertaken to investigate the urinary excretion and pharmacokinetics of ACRO and its parent drug CP in BMT recipients when CP is used for conditioning, and to examine the relationship between hemorrhagic cystitis and urinary excretion of ACRO. Patients and methods Patient selectionA total of 16 patients ranging in age between 14 and 46 years were randomly selected among the ...

The steady-state pharmacokinetics of the atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine in schizophrenic Saudi Arabian patients was studied and correlated with the clinical outcome.Twenty-six schizophrenic patients were given clozapine over a period of 2±41 months. The daily dose ranged from 100 to 700 mg, and the frequency of administration varied from 1 to 2 times daily. A blood sample was collected from each patient at the midpoint of the dosing interval and was repeated on different days in six randomly selected patients to establish the steady-state condition. The concentration of clozapine in plasma (C ss ) was measured by HPLC with UV detection at 250 nm using C 18 bonded SepPak cartridges for sample preparation. The apparent oral clearance (CL p.o. ) was calculated from the equation: CL p.o. doseatC ss where t is the time between two consecutive doses. The effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated by the standard Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The mean AE s.d. steady-state concentration (C ss ) was 491 AE 299 ng mL À1 . There were no signi®cant differences in C ss or any of the pharmacokinetic parameters studied between the 11 patients who responded positively to the treatment and the 15 patients who responded negatively.These results do not support the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between higher plasma concentrations and positive response from clozapine in Saudi Arabian patients.