Study on didanosine concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid. Implications for the treatment and prevention of AIDS dementia complex.

It has been hypothesized that didanosine has a low efficacy in the prevention and treatment of patients with the dementia complex of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) because "... the drug has not been detected in the cerebrospinal fluid". We investigated didanosine concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of four patients with AIDS who were using didanosine chronically. Didanosine levels, 4 h after the last drug administration, averaged 0.16 (+/- 0.03) mumol/l in CSF and 0.70 (+/- 0.27) mumol/l in plasma. When compared with historical data from patients using zidovudine, didanosine concentrations in CSF appeared to be approximately half (on a molar base) those of zidovudine concentrations in the CSF. Whether this difference in CSF levels is the explanation for the presumed lower efficacy of didanosine in the prevention and treatment of AIDS dementia complex remains to be proven. However, it is clear from this study, in contrast with earlier suggestions, that didanosine is able to pass the blood-CSF barrier in human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals.