Variation in gastrointestinal transit of pharmaceutical dosage forms in healthy subjects

The variability in the gastrointestinal transit of a multiple-unit and single-unit dosage form was investigated following a light breakfast in six, healthy, male volunteers after repeated weekly administration. The dosage forms were labeled with gamma-emitting radionuclides and the transit of the formulations was monitored on 4 separate study days using the technique of dual-isotope gamma scintigraphy. Gastric emptying times and small intestinal transit times were calculated and compared statistically within and between subjects using the standard deviation and coefficient of variance. The variability in gastric emptying of single- and multiple-unit systems was large; the intrasubject variation being less than the intersubject. There was less variation in small intestinal transit times for the single- and multiple-unit formulations than in gastric emptying, intrasubject variation again being less than intersubject variation.