Influence of ethanol ingestion on tetracycline kinetics

The effect of ethyl alcohol ingestion on tetracycline kinetics was studied in 9 healthy male volunteers. They received, on two separate occasions, 500 mg of tetracycline tablets given with water or with an alcoholic beverage. The antibiotic was assayed in plasma, using a HPLC method. Absorption and disposition parameters were calculated according to classical pharmacokinetic techniques for one compartment model. The significance of changes in pharmacokinetic parameters was determined by a multiway ANOVA test. In the present study, ingestion of alcohol caused significant increase of Cmax (from 9.317 to 12.362 micrograms/ml), and increase of AUC (from 62.65 to 94.28 micrograms/ml*h).