DefinePK

Abstract

Cimetidine, an H2 receptor antagonist, is widely used in the treatment of duodenal ulcer, Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (Binder et al., 1978; Winship, 1978; Ippoliti et al., 1978; Gray et al., 1978; Lc Canthy, 1978) benign gastric ulcer, gastric erosions and oesophagitis (Freston, 1979; Frost et al., 1977; Englert et al., 1978). In human beings it has a circulating half life of disappearance of 123±12 min (Burland et al., 1975). Complete absorption occurs on oral ingestion, in 80-90 min. Seventy percent is excreted in urine (Regan et al., 1977), 10% in stool (Griffiths, 1977) and inactivated mainly by the liver (Griffiths et al., 1977). Its main toxic effects are due to its action on widely distributed H2 receptors, or due to idiosyncrasy, in some instances, mechanism of side effects is not well understood.
Hepatotoxic effect are slight rise in serum transaminases (