Evaluation of a method to study the uptake of prednisolone sodium phosphate from different oral mucosal sites

A filter paper disk method for the delivery of drugs to oral mucosal sites was evaluated. The water-soluble steroid prednisolone sodium phosphate was chosen as the tracer drug. The in vitro recovery of the steroid from the filter paper disks after placement onto glass was greater than 95% and within the pipetting error for the method. Filter paper disks containing 1.25 mg doses of prednisolone sodium phosphate were placed on three different intraoral sites for 5 minutes and the drug retention was calculated in six volunteers. The mean percentage retention at the three sites was 65.4% for the sublingual mucosa, 24.1% for the buccal mucosa, and 9.9% for the palatal mucosa. The differences between the sites were all significant. The method may be useful for studying the retention of other drugs at various oral mucosal sites and for determining the factors that affect such retention.