title: Disposition of metronidazole and its effects on sulphasalazine metabolism in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: The pharmacokinetics of metronidazole were studied after oral and intravenous administration to seven patients with Crohn's disease and five patients with ulcerative colitis. The oral/intravenous availability ratio was 0.97 +/- 0.2 in the Crohn's patients and 0.90 +/- 0.1 in the colitics (mean +/- s.e. mean). Plasma clearance was 3.24 +/- 0.2 l h-1 and 4.1 +/- 0.5 l h-1, respectively. These differences were not statistically significant. Ten of the patients on long term sulphasalazine were studied to observe the effect of 2 weeks metronidazole therapy on plasma sulphapyridine concentration. The sulphapyridine concentration changed from 22.1 +/- 2.0 micrograms ml-1 to 15.95 +/- 4.5 micrograms ml-1 in the Crohn's patients and 26.0 +/- 6.0 micrograms ml-1 to 36.4 +/- 8.5 micrograms ml-1 in the colitis group, pre- and post-metronidazole. These differences were not statistically significant. These results suggest that metronidazole does not interfere with diazo-link splitting of sulphasalazine and that patients with Crohn's disease handle metronidazole in a similar manner to patients with colitis.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kershaw
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Houston
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D001682:Biological Availability; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004347:Drug Interactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012460:Sulfasalazine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008795:Metronidazole; D012460:Sulfasalazine