Comparative study of the gastrointestinal tolerability of tolmetin and 4'-acetamidophenyl-2-(5'-p-toluyl-1'-methylpyrrole) acetate (AU-8001).

The comparative gastrointestinal (GI) tolerability of 4'-acetamidophenyl-2-(5'-p-toluyl-1'-methylpyrrole) acetate (AU-8001), tolmetin and placebo have been studied in rat through a radioactive quantification method with Fe-59 of the GI microbleeding. The drugs were given orally at equimolecular doses of AU-8001 and sodium tolmetin equivalent to 100 mg/kg/day of tolmetin acid. Four days administration of sodium tolmetin induced significant increases of fecal radioactivity (p less than 0.005) whereas no difference was observed between animals treated with equimolecular doses of AU-8001 and control animals. The fecal elimination of radioactivity in the animals treated with sodium tolmetin was also significantly higher than in animals receiving AU-8001 (p less than 0.02).