title: Serum gentamicin levels in traumatic paraplegics following intramuscular administration in non-paralyzed limbs.
abstract: Intramuscular administration of gentamicin in the paralyzed limb of subjects with spinal cord injury resulted in decreased maximum serum concentration, increased time to maximum serum concentration and decreased absorption rate constant. An investigation was, therefore, undertaken to study the serum gentamicin levels in paraplegics when it is administered intramuscularly in the non-paralyzed limb. Group 1 consisted of six male bed-ridden traumatic paraplegics with complete lesion at the level of T12-L1 and group 2 consisted of six healthy male adults. Following intramuscular administration of gentamicin (1.5 mg/kg) in deltoid muscle, blood samples were taken at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min for determination of serum gentamicin levels by solid-phase radioimmunoassay. Serum gentamicin levels at 15 min after drug administration were 2.2 +/- 0.78 micrograms/ml in group 1 and 4.81 +/- 0.94 micrograms/ml in group 2 (p less than 0.001); at 30 min, serum levels were 3.45 +/- 0.75 micrograms/ml in group 1 and 5.0 +/- 0.48 micrograms/ml in group 2 (p less than 0.01); at 45 min, serum gentamicin levels were 3.3 +/- 0.51 micrograms/ml in group 1 and 4.63 +/- 1.24 micrograms/ml in group 2 (p less than 0.05). There was no significant difference in serum gentamicin levels at 60, 90 and 120 min between the two groups. The maximum serum concentration was 3.8 +/- 0.56 micrograms/ml in group 1 and 5.43 +/- 0.94 micrograms/ml in group 2 (p less than 0.01). The area under the curves in groups 1 and 2 was 315 +/- 41.1 and 451.25 +/- 88.3, respectively (p less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, IND-Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sankaranarayanan
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hemal
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vaidyanathan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001682:Biological Availability; D005839:Gentamicins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D008297:Male; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005839:Gentamicins