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Gastric fluid composition in a paediatric population: Age-dependent changes relevant for gastrointestinal drug

Jens Van Den Abeele1, Maissa Rayyan2, Ilse Hoffman3

  • 1Drug Delivery and Disposition, KU Leuven, Gasthuisberg O&N II, Herestraat 49 - box 921, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences : Official Journal of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences
|July 15, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Gastric fluid composition in children and neonates differs significantly from adults, especially in neonates. These age-dependent changes in gastric pH, osmolality, and bile salts are crucial for pediatric drug development.

Area of Science:

  • Pharmacokinetics
  • Pediatric Gastroenterology

Background:

  • Understanding pediatric gastric fluid is vital for accurate oral drug dosing.
  • Limited data exists on age-specific gastric fluid composition in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To expand the dataset on gastric fluid composition in the pediatric population (0-18 years).
  • To improve understanding of age-dependent changes in gastric fluid characteristics impacting gastrointestinal drug disposition.

Main Methods:

  • Gastric fluids were collected from preterm neonates, term neonates, infants, children, and adolescents.
  • Key gastric fluid constituents (pH, osmolality, bile salts) were characterized.

Main Results:

  • Gastric fluid composition varied significantly across pediatric age groups and differed notably from adults.
  • Neonates exhibited the most pronounced differences in gastric fluid composition compared to adults.
  • Frequent feeding in neonates impacts gastric fluid characteristics, a factor to consider in drug development.

Conclusions:

  • Significant age-dependent variations in pediatric gastric fluid composition exist, particularly in neonates.
  • These findings highlight the need to consider pediatric-specific gastric physiology in drug product development.
  • Further research is needed to correlate these gastric fluid differences with oral drug disposition variability in children.

Keywords:
CharacterizationCompositionGastrointestinal fluidNeonateOral drug dispositionPaediatric

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