Effect of hypercapnia and/or hypoxemia and metabolic acidosis on kinetics and concentrations of phenytoin in the cerebrospinal fluid of conscious rabbits.

The present study was designed to determine the effect of changes in gases and pH in the blood on kinetics and passage to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of phenytoin (DPH). Five groups of 6 rabbits were used, a control [with a mean partial pressure (Pa) of oxygen of 84 +/- 2 (SEM) mmHg, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) of 23 +/- 1 mmHg and pH = 7.512 +/- 0.018], a second group with hypercapnia (PaCO2 = 65 +/- 3 mmHg, pH = 7.244 +/- 0.008), a third group with hypoxemia (PaO2 = 48 +/- 2 mmHg), a fourth group with hypercapnia combined with hypoxemia (PaCO2 = 72 +/- 3 mmHg, PaO2 = 51 +/- 1 mmHg and pH = 7.252 +/- 0.008) and a fifth group with metabolic acidosis (pH = 7.232 +/- 0.011). All animals were conscious during the experiments following the administration of 10 mg/kg (i.v.) of phenytoin, hypoxemia decreased the clearance of phenytoin from 4.20 +/- 0.55 to 2.65 +/- 0.44 ml/min per kg (P less than 0.05) and consequently the area under the plasma concentration/time curve (AUC) for phenytoin increased (2575 +/- 319 to 4316 +/- 740 micrograms min/ml; P less than 0.05). Metabolic acidosis increased the volume of distribution of phenytoin from 780 +/- 70 to 1103 +/- 65 ml/kg (P less than 0.01). The protein binding of phenytoin was not affected by any of the experimental conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)