Original article
English
Mohmoud A. Elderbi, Ali A. Salam
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Omar Al-Mokhtar University, Tobrouk, Libya
JMJ 2010, Vol.10, No.2:118-122
Abstract
Background: Gum Arabic is the dried gummy exudate obtained from stems and branches of Acacia Senegal trees, Willdenow or other related African species of Acacia (Leguminosae) and it is widely used in many pharmaceutical preparations as an emulsifying and suspending agent. It is a beneficial adjunct to therapy in chronic renal failure patients because it reduces serum urea nitrogen levels. It increases water and electrolyte absorption, so that it could be a good additive to oral rehydration solutions, in patients suffering from diarrhea. It also has a good protective activity against acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity and doxorubicin-induced cardriotoxicity. Objectives and Design: this study was conducted to investigate the effect of gum Arabic on urinary excretion of ciprofloxacin, a widely used antibacterial agent in the treatment of many infections such as urinary tract infections. The volunteers were divided into two groups. In group I (control), the volunteers were given the drug only and in the group II (test), the volunteers received the drug and gum Arabic concurrently. Urine samples were collected at different time intervals and the drug concentrations in urine were evaluated microbiologically. The following urinary excretion parameters were calculated: percentage of drug excreted unchanged (PDE), maximum peak of excretion rate (MPE), and time to this peak (TTP). Results and Discussion: The administration of ciprofloxacin with gum Arabic reduced the PDE of ciprofloxacin significantly from 36.96±3.53 to 32.34±4.07 and showed no significant difference in MPE and TTP. Conclusion: The concurrent oral administration of ciprofloxacin with gum arabic affects the extent of absorption but not the rate so that the concurrent administration of ciprofloxacin with gum Arabic should be avoided.
Keywords: Gum arabic, Ciprofloxacin, Absorption and Healthy volunteers.
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/images/stories/summer2010/118.pdf