Vaginal drug absorption in rhesus monkeys I: development of methodology.

Earlier reports from these laboratories described a procedure for determining vaginal drug absorption in the rabbit based upon a perfusion system, and data on the vaginal absorption of the straight-chain aliphatic alcohols and carboxylic acids were given. These studies have been extended to the rhesus monkey. Rib-cage-type cells were designed for intravaginal insertion through the vulval orifice and to fit the specific dimensions of the monkey vagina. The general design of the cell was similar to that used in the rabbit vaginal absorption studies. The persusion system was checked by using 3H-polyethylene glycol 4000, and no significant leaks from the cell were found. The absorption of the alcohols followed first-order kinetics. The computed apparent permeability coefficients for the alcohols were of comparable magnitude to those previously reported for the rabbit vaginal membrane.