Pharmacokinetics and steady-state myocardial uptake of disopyramide in the dog

The pharmacokinetics and steady-state myocardial uptake of the antiarrhythmic drug disopyramide (DP) were determined in dogs after oral or intravenous administration of [14C]disopyramide phosphate. DP was absorbed rapidly and its absolute oral bioavailability was about 70%. Significant dose-dependent kinetics were not apparent after 7.5- to 30-mg/kg po doses. Plasma half-lives of DP were about 2.9 and 1.2 hr after the po and iv doses, respectively. DP and its N-dealkylated metabolites were largely excreted in the urine and their composition was qualitatively similar after the po and iv doses. Marked differences in the protein binding of DP in human and dog plasma were found. In the papillary muscle, ventricular septum, and ventricles of one dog, the steady-state concentrations of DP and its less active mono-N-dealkylated metabolite were about twice those in plasma, whereas in the atria and tricuspid and mitral valves they were similar to those in plasma.