title: Monitoring the ingestion of anti-tuberculosis drugs by simple non-invasive methods.
abstract: This investigation retrospectively assessed inexpensive non-invasive qualitative methods to monitor the ingestion of anti-tuberculosis drugs isoniazid, rifampicin and rifapentine. Results showed that commercial test strips detected the isoniazid metabolites isonicotinic acid and isonicotinylglycine as efficiently as the isonicotinic acid method in 150 urine samples. The presence of rifamycins in urine samples (n=1085) was detected by microbiological assay techniques and the sensitivity compared to the n-butanol extraction colour test in 91 of these specimens. The proportions detected by the two methods were significantly different and the sensitivity of the n-butanol procedure was only 63.8% (95% CL 51.2-76.4%) as compared to that of the superior microbiological method. Final validation (n=691) showed that qualitative assays measure isoniazid and rifamycin ingestion with an efficiency similar to high-performance liquid chromatography. The qualitative procedures may therefore be valuable in clinical trials and in tuberculosis clinics to confirm drug ingestion.
authors.affiliation: Medical Biochemistry, MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. frik.sirgel@mrc.ac.za
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Sirgel
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Maritz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venter
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Langdon
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Donald
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007538:Isoniazid / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000652:urine; D007539:Isonicotinic Acids / Q000652:urine; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010349:Patient Compliance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012293:Rifampin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000652:urine; D012646:Self Administration; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D007539:Isonicotinic Acids; C009895:isonicotinuric acid; D007538:Isoniazid; D012293:Rifampin; C018421:rifapentine