Abstract
These studies were designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of vitamin E following intravenous (IV), topical (TOP) as eye drops, and intramusclar (IM) vitamin E in the newborn kitten as the animal model of retinopathy of prematurity. TOP adminstration of E had no significant effect on tissue or plasma E concentration. The mean plasma concentration of E in the control and TOP treated animals was 0.5 mg%. Plasma levels of radiolabelled E following IV adminstration (100 mg/kg) decayed in a triphasic manner: the half-life of the inital component was 2 hrs while the terminal component half-life was 86 hrs. Plasma concentration of E during the first two hrs ranged from 70-80 mg% and therapeutic E concentration of 3 mg% was not observed until 48 hrs. after IV administration. Plasma values for E following IM administration (100 mg/kg) reached a steady state level of 5-7 mg% within four hrs and was maintained for up to 120 hrs. It is concluded that the IM route of administration provides an effective method for rapid introduction and maintenance of therapeutic vitamin E levels in the plasma of the newborn.(Supported in part by NIH EY04990).
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Bhat, R., Braun, R. PHARMACOKINETICS OF EXOGENOUS VITAMIN E IN THE NEWBORN. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 149 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00338
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00338