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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

In Vitro and In Vivo Approaches to Determine Intestinal Epithelial Cell Permeability
Published on: October 19, 2018
Gentamicin sulphate permeation through porcine intestinal epithelial cell monolayer
Béla Gyetvai1, Ákos Jerzsele1, Erzsébet Pászti-Gere1
1Szent István University Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Science István u. 2 H-1078 Budapest Hungary.
Abstract:
Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic widely used in combination with dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) in topical drug formulations. It is not known, however, whether DMSO can enhance the permeation of gentamicin through biological membranes, leading to oto- and nephrotoxic side effects. A simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was applied for the quantitative determination of gentamicin collected from the apical and basolateral compartments of the porcine intestinal epithelial cell line IPEC-J2 cell monolayer using fluorometric derivatisation of the analyte with fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl chloride (FMOC) prior to chromatographic run in the presence and absence of 1% DMSO. The lack of change in transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) demonstrated that gentamicin and 1% DMSO did not affect IPEC-J2 cell monolayer integrity via the disruption of cell membranes. Chromatographic data also ascertained that gentamicin penetration across the cell monolayer even in the presence of 1% DMSO was negligible at 6 h after the beginning of apical gentamicin administration. This study further indicates that the addition of this organic solvent does not increase the incidence of toxic effects related to gentamicin permeation.
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