Absorption of enprofylline from the gastrointestinal tract in healthy subjects

Summary

Enprofylline, a new potent bronchodilator xanthine drug, was given orally as an aqueous solution to 6 healthy subjects in single doses of 2, 4 and 6 mg/kg. The two lower doses produced plasma concentrations in the range 1–4 mg/l, i.e. in the assumed “therapeutic interval” according to previous animal studies. A high 24 h urine recovery of unchanged drug, with mean values for the three dose levels ranging from 85 to 91% of the given dose, indicated good absorption and little metabolism. The dose-corrected area under the plasma concentration-time curve rose with dose as the latter was increased from 2 to 6 mg/kg. This indicates that the elimination of enprofylline is capacity-limited at high doses. Double peaks in the plasma concentration-time curves at the higher dose levels suggested intermittent and delayed gastric emptying as a possible explanation. This hypothesis was confirmed by studies in 6 other healthy subjects, who received the drug solution by three different routes; by mouth, via a catheter in the duodenum, and rectally via a catheter in the colon. The corresponding time to peak values (mean±SEM) were 32.5±8.7, 13.3±2.5, and 157±23 min.