Studies on Nonoxynol-9. II. Intravaginal absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion in rats and rabbits

Some pharmacological aspects of Igepal CO-630, used by some pharmaceutical companies as the source of nonylphenoxypoly (ethyleneoxy) ethanol (Nonoxynol-9, N-9) in various spermicidal formulations, were studied. It was found that Igepal CO-630 contains at least 13 components, 70% having molecular weights near that of N-9. After intravaginal administration, the detergent is rapidly and quantitatively absorbed through the vaginal wall into the systemic circulation. The rate of vaginal absorption of N-9 depends on the vehicle in which the detergent is carried. Once in the blood, N-9 is excreted by liver-bile-feces and the kidney-urine routes, the first being more effective in rats, the latter in rabbits. Following intravaginal or intraperitoneal injection of radioactive N-9, the highest content of radioactivity was found in the liver and kidney. The detergent was detected in the milk of lactating rats and the serum of their pups within two hours after the intravaginal dose.