title: Relationship between plasma and saliva quinine levels in humans.
abstract: The relationship between saliva and plasma levels of quinine was studied in four healthy volunteers. After a single oral dose of quinine sulfate (600 mg) to the volunteers, quinine was determined in both saliva and plasma simultaneously over a 48-h period by an ion pair reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography method. The tmax (4.3 +/- 0.5 h) and elimination half-life (11.8 +/- 2.9 h) of quinine derived from saliva levels were comparable with those obtained from plasma levels (tmax = 2.8 +/- 0.2 h, t1/2 = 12.9 +/- 2.3 h). A significant correlation existed between the plasma and saliva concentrations of the drug (r = 0.93, n = 20, p < 0.001). The mean saliva/plasma quinine concentration ratio was 0.24 +/- 0.02. The results suggest that quinine is passively secreted into saliva and that saliva level determination may be useful as a noninvasive method in the evaluation of pharmacokinetic parameters and therapeutic drug monitoring of quinine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Babalola
authors.forename: O O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Bolaji
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Ogunbona
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Dixon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011803:Quinine / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D011803:Quinine