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Relationship between digoxin concentrations in serum and saliva
Author(s) -
Huffman David H.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt1975173310
Subject(s) - digoxin , saliva , chemistry , serum concentration , linear correlation , therapeutic drug monitoring , chromatography , linear relationship , endocrinology , medicine , pharmacology , drug , heart failure , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics
The concentration of digoxin in serum and saliva was determined in 18 patients receiving digoxin. Unlike serum, it was necessary to extract saliva with chloroform in order to quantitate digoxin levels accurately. An excellent linear correlation (r = +0.988, p < 0.001) was observed between the saliva and serum digoxin concentrations. This indicates that saliva digoxin concentrations can be used to monitor digoxin therapy, particularly in patients in whom blood sampling is inconvenient or difficult. The saliva/serum ratio for digoxin concentration was 0.78 ± 0.07 (SD). Since the digoxin binding to plasma proteins is 23%, it is the free drug that is in equilibrium between serum and saliva.