CYCLOBARBITAL AS A TEST SUBSTANCE FOR OXIDATIVE DRUG-METABOLISM IN MAN - FINDINGS IN NEUROPSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

The disappearance of cyclobarbital from plasma has been followed in healthy volunteers and in neurological and psychiatric patients after oral administration of one tablet of Phanodorm®, containing cyclobarbital calcium 200 mg. Plasma levels were measured by a thin-layer chromatographic method with in situ densitometry. The average t1/2 in healthy female and male volunteers was 13.3 h, and with the assumption of complete availability a mean distribution coefficient of 0.69 l/kg-1 and a clearance of 40.4 ml/min-1 were calculated. Repeated experiments in seven volunteers revealed good reproducibility of all values. When the healthy volunteers were combined with a group of untreated epileptics, a dependence of t1/2 and of the apparent volume of distribution on age was found, while clearance did not change with increasing age (range 17-54 years). Long half-lives caused by low clearance values were observed in several individuals with moderate obesity. No consistent change in cyclobarbital kinetics followed acute exposure of volunteers to alcohol or on treatment of neurological patients with carbamazepine. Patients under treatment with perazine exhibited more or less normal kinetic values. In terms of drug interaction, cyclobarbital differs from phenazone in several respects, and so it may prove a useful additional substance for measurement of the rate of drug oxidation in humans. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.