✍ Scribed by White, Wallace F. ;Gisvold, Ole
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Digitoxin, acetyl digoxin, digoxin, and lanatoside C were administered orally to unanesthetized cats in single fatal doses. Physical state of subdivision and lipoid solubility appeared to modify rate of absorption. Di itoxin, acetyl digoxin, and digoxin were rather uniformly and nearly completely atsorbed within a few hours, provided they were dissolved in aqueous alcohol or aqueous "Tween 80" solutions. Lanatoside C was slowly absorbed in alcoholic solution. Digoxin and lanatoside C tablets were absorbed very slowly. Lanatoside C is much less lipoid-soluble than the others. It is postulated that high lipoid solubility of digitoxin and acetyl digoxin assures absorption of solid and dissolved states, whereas low lipoid solubility retards absorption of digoxin tablets and lanatoside C in solid or in solution.
Digoxin in alcohol or "Tween 80" solution should be as potent as digitoxin i n solution.
Acetyl digoxin deserves clinical trial as a substitute for digitoxin. nE crude plant mixtures of Digitalis pur-Tpurce and certain other species have been used in medicine by oral administration for a period of time long enough to acquaint the medical profession with their virtues and limitations. The recent trend toward the use of purified cardiac glycosides is evidence that limitations have been prominent. At present much attention is being given to the oral use of digitoxin. Some reactions have been unfavorable, however, since many cases of toxklty have been reported (1). Of the many additional cardiac glycosides which have been isolated in relatively pure form, two have received considerable clinical trial, namely digoxin and lanatoside C.
The information which is available concerning intestinal absorption of these three clinically used cardiac glycosides has been of a sketchy nature for the most part. Digitoxin is stated to be completely absorbed when given orally (2). In a recent report (3) lanatoside C has been stated to be 19 per cent absorbed in cats after oral administration, which corresponds with the dosage differential between digitoxin and lanatoside C given in U. S. P. XIV. Batterman and DeGraff (4) were able to digitalize patients with oral doses of digoxin ranging between 0.5 and 1.0 mg. given every six hours. The average U. S. P. XIV oral doses for these drugs are 0.1 mg. for digitoxin, 0.5 mg. for digoxin, and 0.5 mg. for lanatoside C, all in tablet form.
In the present study i t was intended to compare intestinal absorption of these three commonly used cardiac glycosides in cats under nearly identical experimental conditions. We then
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