Zolpidem excretion in breast milk.
Five, lactating, healthy white women were treated with a single 20 mg tablet of zolpidem 3-4 days after the delivery of a full term baby. The drug was administered at 20.00 h, 30 min after dinner, and milk samples were collected before and 3, 13 and 16 h. Venous blood 5 ml was taken before and 1.5, 3, 13, 16 h after zolpidem administration. The apparent elimination half life, estimated from plasma zolpidem concentrations was 2.6 h. The amount of zolpidem excreted in the milk at 3 h ranged between 0.76 and 3.88 micrograms, which represented 0.004 to 0.019% of the administered dose; no detectable (below 0.5 ng/ml) zolpidem was found in the milk at subsequent sampling times. The ratio of the zolpidem concentrations in breast milk and plasma at 3 h was 0.13. The apparent breast milk clearance of zolpidem, calculated from the ratio of the total amount of zolpidem excreted in milk to its AUC in plasma was 1.48 ml/h. The results show that the excretion of zolpidem in human milk is very low (below 0.02%) and that most of it takes place during the first 3 h following drug intake.
Pons
G
G
Department de Pharmacologie Clinique Périnatale et Pédiatrique, Hôpital Saint-Vincent de Paul, Paris, France.
Francoual
C
C
Guillet
P
P
Moran
C
C
Hermann
P
P
Bianchetti
G
G
Thiercelin
J F
JF
Thenot
J P
JP
Olive
G
G
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000378:metabolism*; D011725:Pyridines / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D000077334:Zolpidem
D011725:Pyridines; D000077334:Zolpidem