title: Pharmacokinetics of intravaginal metronidazole gel.
abstract: The pharmacokinetics of a single 500 mg oral dose of metronidazole and 5 g of 0.75% metronidazole intravaginal gel (37.5 mg metronidazole) were compared in 12 adult volunteers in a randomized crossover manner. Serial serum samples were collected over a 48-hour period and analyzed for metronidazole and hydroxymetronidazole. Metronidazole serum concentrations after intravaginal administration were only 2% of concentrations seen with the standard 500-mg oral dose. The dose-adjusted maximum serum concentration (898 +/- 121 ng/mL vs. 237 +/- 69 ng/mL) and area under the serum concentration-time curve (9362 +/- 2873 ng * hr/mL vs. 4977 +/- 2671 ng * hr/mL) were significantly greater for the oral versus intravaginal dose of metronidazole. The time to reach maximum concentration (1.4 +/- 0.6 hr vs. 8.4 +/- 2.2 hr) was significantly shorter for the oral compared with the intravaginal dose. The mean bioavailability for the intravaginal gel was 56%. Our results show that the 0.75% gel formulation may offer the advantage of fewer systemic adverse effects compared with other formulations for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago.
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brubaker
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Fischer
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000282:Administration, Intravaginal; D000328:Adult; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D005782:Gels; D006801:Humans; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D008795:Metronidazole