Pharmacokinetics of levamisole in rabbits after intravenous administration

A compartmental and non-compartmental pharmacokinetic study was carried out on rabbits after intravenous (i.v.) administration of levamisole at the three dose rates: 12.5, 16.0 and 20.0 mg/kg body weight. Using compartmental analysis, the disposition of levamisole best fitted a two-compartmental open model with mean values of alpha = 0.1278, 0.1019 and 0.1282 min-1; beta = 0.0139, 0.0126 and 0.0124 min-1; A = 6.24, 5.27 and 10.58 micrograms/ml and B = 2.14, 3.83 and 5.08 micrograms/ml for each dose, respectively. The statistical moment theory was mainly used for non-compartmental analysis. Values for mean residence time (MRT) of 69.2, 71.7 and 73.1 min were obtained for each dose. The mean values for volume of distribution at steady state (Vd(ss)), determined by compartmental analysis, were 3879, 3279 and 2735 ml/kg for each dose, and values obtained using the statistical moment theory were 3760, 3015 and 2943 ml/kg; there were no statistically significant differences using Student's paired t-test. Identical conclusions were obtained using both methods when the parameters beta, AUC and Cl were compared.