title: Effect of halothane-oxygen anesthesia on the pharmacokinetics of diazepam and its metabolites in rats.
abstract: Inhalation anesthetics have been shown to substantially diminish the clearance of several drugs eliminated by hepatic routes. The purpose of the present study was to determine the influence of halothane-oxygen anesthesia on the hepatic metabolism of diazepam and its proximate metabolites in anesthetized rats whose physiologic status was monitored and maintained. The portal vein, femoral artery and bile duct of male Sprague-Dawley rats 370 to 395 g, were cannulated under pentobarbital anesthesia. After a 2-hr recovery period, [14C]diazepam was administered in to the portal vein as a 0.25-mg/kg bolus followed immediately by a 0.25-mg/kg/hr infusion by the same route. After the attainment of steady state, the halothane group (seven rats) received 1% halothane in oxygen whereas the control group (six rats) continued to breathe room air. The diazepam infusion was maintained for an additional 3 hr. Concentrations of diazepam, N-desmethyldiazepam, 4-hydroxyphenyldiazepam and 3-hydroxydiazepam were determined in plasma; these metabolites as well as oxazepam and N-desmethyl-4-hydroxyphenyldiazepam were also determined in bile. Radioactivity in bile was approximately 98% conjugated; radioactivity in plasma was approximately 30% conjugated. Halothane anesthesia caused an increase in the concentrations of diazepam and its metabolites in plasma, but the steady-state ratios of the concentration of the individual metabolites in plasma to diazepam concentration were not changed. The intrinsic clearance of diazepam was decreased by 42%, P less than .01, and the ratio of formation to elimination clearance of the metabolites measured in plasma was not changed. Halothane anesthesia also decreased the excretion rate of 14C into bile.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia; D000818:Animals; D001646:Bile / Q000378:metabolism; D001711:Biotransformation / Q000187:drug effects; D003975:Diazepam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism*; D006221:Halothane / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008102:Liver Circulation; D008297:Male; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D012636:Secretory Rate / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D003975:Diazepam; D006221:Halothane