The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 20, Issue 3 387-392, Copyright © 1985 by Society for General Microbiology
Evaluation of subdermal biodegradable implants incorporating rifampicin as a method of drug delivery in experimental tuberculosis of guinea pigs
I. S. Mathur, H. P. Gupta, S. K. Srivastava, S. Singh, K. Madhu and N. M. Khanna
Conventional chemotherapy of tuberculosis and leprosy requires rifampicin
to be administered orally. The long period of treatment and adverse side
effects of the drug lead to poor compliance. To overcome this, subdermal
implants incorporating rifampicin in pure and micro-encapsulated forms with
biodegradable material were used as a new drug delivery system in
experimental tuberculosis of guinea pigs. Two experiments were performed
with 45-mg and 100-mg drug implants. Progress of infection was followed at
intervals by studying necropsy scores and weights of the organs of
predilection and levels of the drug in the blood were determined. There was
a constant and sustained release of the drug in therapeutic concentrations
for 30 and 50 days until the implants were completely assimilated without
causing any damage to the implant site. The importance of multiple implants
at long intervals is discussed.
