Premium
Night‐time or morning dosing with H 2 ‐receptor antagonists: studies on acid inhibition in normal subjects
Author(s) -
PATEL N.,
WARD U.,
ROGERS M. J.,
PRIMROSE J. N.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2036.1992.tb00059.x
Subject(s) - morning , ranitidine , dosing , medicine , histamine h2 receptor , nocturnal , pharmacology , gastric acid , dose–response relationship , endocrinology , antagonist , stomach , receptor
SUMMARY H 2 ‐receptor antagonists are conventionally given at night. However, it remains unproven whether this regimen affords superior acid inhibition or healing rates for patients with duodenal ulcers compared to morning dosing. We have therefore examined the acid inhibitory effect of 300 mg ranitidine at night compared to 300 mg ranitidine in the morning in 8 normal male subjects. Intragastric acidity was measured by the radiotelemetry method and acid inhibition calculated from the percentage decrease in the area under the curve for hydrogen ion activity against time. Night‐time ranitidine resulted in a significantly better ( P < 0.02) decrease of intragastric acidity than the same dose given in the morning (66.8 (61.8–77.6)% vs. 34 (15.5–49.1)%). This difference was found to be due to the fact that morning ranitidine inhibited gastric acid secretion when the intragastric acidity was already buffered by food. These data support the superiority of nocturnal dosing with H 2 ‐antagonists.