We assessed the handling of and response to oral bumetanide (1.0 and 2.0 mg) and to furosemide (40 and 80 mg) in 20 patients with stable, compensated congestive heart failure (CHF), comparing the two drugs and, in addition, examining differences from normal subjects. Bumetanide and furosemide were similar in time course of absorption, but patients with CHF had considerably prolonged absorption compared to normal subjects causing attainment of lower peak concentrations of drug. In both CHF and normal subjects, more bumetanide than furosemide was absorbed. The elimination half-life of furosemide was approximately twice that of bumetanide, and both were about two times longer than respective values in normal subjects. "Dose"-response curves were shifted downward from normal with both drugs. In patients with CHF, overall response did not differ between bumetanide and furosemide. The two drugs exhibit subtle differences, the clinical importance of which appears to be negligible from this study. Importantly, however, both drugs showed delayed absorption causing attainment of peak urinary excretion rates of diuretic two- to threefold lower than in normal subjects. This effect along with the abnormal responsivity of the tubule may contribute to the "resistance" to oral doses of diuretics observed clinically even though no quantitative malabsorption of drug occurs.

After an oral or intravenous dose of furosemide, there is considerable interindividual variability in the amount of unchanged drug delivered into the urine. On average, approximately half as much reaches the intraluminal site of action with an oral compared to an intravenous dose. However, the natriuretic response to the same dose administered by either route is virtually the same. Similarly, after pretreatment with probenecid, the same total amount of furosemide in urine causes a greater overall response. It has been presumed that this paradox is accounted for by differences in rate of delivery of furosemide to the active site such that after an oral dose, or after pretreatment with probenecid, amounts of drug are for longer periods of time at the "steep" portion of the dose-response curve. Our analysis shows this not to be the case. For furosemide, the "slope factor" of the dose-response curve is such that the amount of diuretic delivered into the urine which is maximally efficient (21.5 micrograms/min) is considerably less than the amount causing half-maximal response (69.8 micrograms/min). Oral administration or pretreatment with probenecid maintains drug close to this maximally efficient amount more persistently than does intravenous administration. By so doing, total response to an oral dose approaches that of intravenous dosing despite delivering half the amount of drug to the active site, and after probenecid an intravenous dose causes a greater response than intravenous dosing alone despite delivering the same amount of drug to the active site. These data emphasize the importance of the time course of delivery of drug to the active site as an independent determinant of overall response.

Azosemide is a loop diuretic that may also affect sodium reabsorption at the proximal tubule. We gave intravenous and oral doses of the drug to normal subjects to examine its kinetic and dynamic parameters. In the fasting state a lag time of absorption of approximately 1 hr was followed by absorption t 1/2s and elimination t 1/2s of approximately 0.75 and 2 2.5 hr. Only 2% of an oral dose was excreted unchanged in the urine. After intravenous dosing the elimination t 1/2 was approximately 2 hr; 20% of a dose was recovered unchanged. Thus azosemide has an estimated bioavailability of 10%. The relationship between urinary azosemide excretion rate ("dose") and natriuretic response follows a sigmoid-shaped curve with a dose inducing half-maximal response of 9.3 +/- 2.6 micrograms/min, whereas it is 69.8, 12.1 and 1 microgram/min for furosemide, piretanide, and bumetanide respectively.

We assessed the response to and handling of furosemide and bumetanide in 30 experiments with the former and 46 with the latter in normal subjects. Oral doses of furosemide (20, 40, and 80 mg) were used, and subjects received oral doses of 0.5, 1, and 2 mg bumetanide and intravenous doses of 0.5 and 1 mg bumetanide. both drugs were quickly absorbed and peak urinary amounts were reached at 75 min (median). Approximately 30% of an oral dose of each drug was excreted unchanged in the urine with no evidence of dose-dependent elimination. After intravenous injection, 36% of the bumetanide was excreted unchanged. Consequently, bumetanide has an estimated bioavailability of 80% (approximately 40% for furosemide). The relationship between the logarithm of the urinary bumetanide excretion rate and the logarithm of the sodium excretion rate was described by a sigmoid-shaped dose-response curve, with a dose inducing half-maximal response of 1 +/- 0.04 micrograms/min; it was 69.8 micrograms/min for furosemide. Overall, the distinguishing features between the two drugs are the 200% greater bioavailability and the much greater potency of bumetanide.