title: Pharmacokinetics of dopamine in critically ill newborn infants.
abstract: Dopamine pharmacokinetics was investigated in 14 critically ill newborn infants ranging from 27 to 43 weeks of gestational age and from 0.9 to greater than 4 kg birth weight. Plasma clearance rate was determined from dopamine levels during controlled infusions under actual clinical conditions. Dopamine was administered in stepwise increasing doses up to 8 micrograms/kg/min. Dopamine concentration and dopamine clearance rate were determined from duplicate samples drawn during each infusion in each patient. Steady-state plasma dopamine concentrations and plasma clearance rates were observed within 20 minutes at each infusion. Plasma dopamine concentration ranged from 0.5 ng/ml before infusion to almost 70 ng/ml at an infusion rate of 4 to 8 micrograms/kg/min. There was a linear correlation between infusion rate and plasma dopamine concentration (r = 0.68, p less than 0.001). Neither plasma dopamine concentration nor infusion rate had a significant effect on clearance rate. These data are consistent with first-order kinetics for administered dopamine in critically ill neonates over the range of concentrations studied.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Torrance 90509.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Padbury
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Agata
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Baylen
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ludlow
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Polk
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Martinez
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D003422:Critical Care; D004298:Dopamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine