Absorption of glibenclamide from different sites of the gastro-intestinal tract

Summary

In a study of eight volunteers and six patients, glibenclamide was placed at different sites of the gastro-intestinal tract under visual control. The dose was instilled once into the stomach and once into the duodenum of the eight volunteers in a randomized crossover design. The six patients underwent diagnostic colonoscopy, and the dose was placed into the ascending colon if pathological findings were not present.

The area under the concentration-time curve, completed by extrapolation, and the mean residence time of the drug in the body were calculated. These pharmacokinetic characteristics were examined using a Jonckheere test for ordered alternatives and a Wilcoxon signed rank pair test.

The means of the areas under the curve were 477±131 ng·h ml⁻¹ for the stomach, 475±142 ng·h ml⁻¹ for the duodenum and 486±301 ng·h ml⁻¹ for the colon. The mean residence time changed from 2.67±0.35 h for the stomach to 2.42±0.48 h for the duodenum and 3.55±0.68 h for the colon.

These results indicate that although glibenclamide is absorbed from all three sites of the gastro-intestinal tract to the same extent, the rates of absorption are different. It is discussed whether these findings really confirm the pH-partition hypothesis in drug absorption. Since glibenclamide — a weak acid — has a pK-value of about 6.5, these data seem to confirm the pH-partition hypothesis of drug absorption.