Pharmacokinetics of gentamicin by intravenous and intratracheal administrations

This paper investigates the pharmacokinetics of a drug delivery system for the purpose of understanding the biodistribution of gentamicin delivered to the blood and tissues by intravenous (IV) and intratracheal (IT) administrations. Numerical solutions for both two-compartment (plasma and tissue) and three-compartment (lung + PFC, plasma, and tissue with IV, IT-Top-fill and IT-Slow fill administrations) models are developed using Euler´s method. The drug elimination rate and the rate constants describing the first-order transport between compartments are determined by parameter estimation. The numerical solution is validated against the analytical solution for a two-compartment model with IV injection. The numerical results are statistically compared with the experimental data. It is determined that the IT administration provides efficient drug delivery to the lungs while avoiding the toxicity level in the plasma.