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. 1987 Jan;31(1):37–41. doi: 10.1128/aac.31.1.37

Successful treatment with aerosolized pentamidine of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in rats.

R J Debs, W Blumenfeld, E N Brunette, R M Straubinger, A B Montgomery, E Lin, N Agabian, D Papahadjopoulos
PMCID: PMC174647  PMID: 3494424

Abstract

We examined both the therapeutic efficacy and tissue distribution of aerosolized pentamidine in immunosuppressed rats with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. In rats immunosuppressed by 5 weeks of pretreatment with dexamethasone, a 2-week course of 5 mg of aerosolized pentamidine per kg per day, administered free or encapsulated in the drug carrier system (liposomes), eradicated P. carinii pneumonia in 75% of treated animals. At this dose, extrapulmonary drug uptake as measured by a sensitive high-pressure liquid chromatography assay was negligible. No significant differences in tissue distribution were noted between aerosolized free and liposome-encapsulated pentamidine. In rats receiving dexamethasone for 6 weeks prior to treatment with pentamidine, both lung uptake and therapeutic efficacy of aerosolized pentamidine (5 mg/kg per day) were substantially reduced. Aerosolized pentamidine appears to be an effective therapy for P. carinii pneumonia in rats and produces significantly lower extrapulmonary drug deposition than parenteral administration. The severity of P. carinii involvement at the time of treatment influences both the level of drug delivery to the lung and the response to aerosolized pentamidine therapy.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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