title: Evaluation of saliva as a specimen for monitoring zidovudine therapy in HIV-infected patients.
abstract: To facilitate studies of the pharmacokinetic properties of zidovudine, the relationship between plasma and salivary concentrations of the drug was studied, after oral dosage, in 10 HIV-infected patients. Zidovudine concentrations were determined in plasma, unstimulated mixed saliva and citric-acid-stimulated mixed saliva over a period of 3 1/2 hours by high-performance liquid chromatography. Correlation coefficients were r = 0.97 (P less than 0.0001) for stimulated saliva compared with plasma and r = 0.89 (P less than 0.0001) for unstimulated saliva, with average values in unstimulated saliva being 113.8 +/- 44.6% in plasma and 67.8 +/- 25.4% in stimulated saliva. Stimulated saliva values found to be 70% of the total reflected the concentration of the unbound drug in plasma. Except for a shorter half-life time (t1/2) in saliva, pharmacokinetic parameters showed a good correlation in the three types of specimen. These findings and the convenience of sample collection suggest that citric-acid-stimulated saliva might be an appropriate specimen for monitoring zidovudine therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Children's Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rolinski
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wintergerst
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matuschke
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Füessl
authors.forename: F D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Goebel
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Roscher
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Belohradsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D015215:Zidovudine