Comparative Study of the Effects of Enzyme Inhibitors and Inducers on Serum and Tissue Availability of Thiamine After Single Oral Dose of the Pro-drug Benfotiamine in Rats.

Abstract

Thiamine is known to have an important role in the protection of different types of cells and tissues against the damage produced by many drugs and toxins. The most important problem limiting the clinical applications of this approach is the poor absorption and bioavailability of thiamine from the sites of administration, a problem which can be solved by the use of the lipid soluble pro-drug for thiamine, benfotiamine. Accordingly, this project was designed to evaluate the serum and tissues availability of thiamine in rats after the administration of single oral dose of benfotiamine compared with that produced by the same oral dose of thiamine, in addition to study the effects of enzyme inducers and inhibitors in this respect utilizing HPLC technique. According to the results obtained in this study one can conclude that thiamine availability after administration of benfotiamine was more in serum, liver, kidney while in the brain more time may be required to reach maximum level.