1. Case report : quantification of methadone-induced respiratory depression using toxicokinetic/toxicodynamic relationships
- Author
-
Mégarbane, Bruno, Decleves, Xavier, Bloch, Vanessa, Bardin, Christophe, Chast, Francois, Baud, Frederic, Mégarbane, Bruno, Neuropsychopharmacologie des addictions. Vulnérabilité et variabilité expérimentale et clinique (NAVVEC - UM 81 (UMR 8206/ U705)), Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Institut des sciences du Médicament -Toxicologie - Chimie - Environnement (IFR71), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris - Chimie ParisTech-PSL (ENSCP), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris - Chimie ParisTech-PSL (ENSCP), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Service de Réanimation Médicale et Toxicologique [Hôpital Lariboisière], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Hôpital Lariboisière-Fernand-Widal [APHP], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), and Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu [Paris]
- Subjects
[SDV.TOX] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology ,[SDV.MHEP.ME] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Emerging diseases ,[SDV.MHEP.ME]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Emerging diseases ,[SDV.MHEP.CSC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Cardiology and cardiovascular system ,[SDV.MHEP.MI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases ,[SDV.TOX]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology ,[SDV.MHEP.MI] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases ,[SDV.MHEP.PSR] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Pulmonology and respiratory tract ,[SDV.MHEP.PSR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Pulmonology and respiratory tract ,[SDV.MHEP.CSC] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Cardiology and cardiovascular system - Abstract
International audience; Introduction: Methadone, the most widely delivered maintenance therapy for heroin addicts, may be responsible for life-threatening poisonings with respiratory depression. The toxicokinetics and the toxicokinetic/toxicodynamic (TK/TD) relationships of methadone enantiomers have been poorly investigated in acute poisonings. The aim of this study was to describe the relationships between methadone-related respiratory effects and their corresponding concentrations.Methods: We report a 44-year-old methadone-maintained patient who ingested a 240-mg dose of methadone. He was found comatose with pinpoint pupils and respiratory depression. He was successfully treated with intravenous naloxone infusion over the course of 31 hours at a rate adapted to maintain normal consciousness and respiratory rate. We performed a TK/TD analysis of the naloxone infusion rate needed to maintain his respiratory rate at more than 12 breaths per minute (as toxicodynamics parameter) versus plasma R,S- and R-methadone concentrations (as toxicokinetics parameter), determined using an enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography assay.Results: Initial plasma R,S-methadone concentration was 1,204 ng/ml. Decrease in plasma R- and S-methadone concentrations was linear and demonstrated a first-order pharmacokinetics (maximal observed concentrations 566 and 637 ng/ml, half-lives 16.1 and 13.2 hours, respectively). TK/TD correlation between naloxone infusion rate and R,S- and R-methadone concentrations fitted well a sigmoidal Emax model (concentration associated with a half-maximum effect [EC50] 334 and 173 ng/ml, Hill coefficient 10.0 and 7.8, respectively). In our chronically treated patient, EC50 values were in the range of previously reported values regarding methadone analgesic effects, suggesting that plasma methadone concentrations to prevent withdrawal are lower than those associated with methadone analgesic effects.Conclusion: After the ingestion of a toxic dose of a racemic mixture, plasma R- and S-enantiomer concentrations decreased in parallel. Despite large inter-individual variability in methadone toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics, TK/TD relationships would be helpful for providing quantitative data regarding the respiratory response to methadone in poisonings. However, further confirmatory TK/TD data are needed.
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF