Gastrointestinal transit of 99mTc-labelled oral dosage forms of sucralfate in healthy volunteers

In this study the deposition and gastrointestinal transit of a conventional uncoated tablet, a chewable tablet, as well as an effervescent preparation containing 1 g of 99m Tc-labelled sucralfate were evaluated over 180 min using a gamma camera. Each preparation was administered by five healthy volunteers after 10 h fasting. The conventional tablet and the effervescent preparation seemed to distribute immediately in the whole stomach area. With the chewable tablet, the initial deposition of sucralfate in the mouth and oesophagus was also detected. The transit of sucralfate into the intestinal area was noted for the conventional tablet and for the effervescent preparation as early as after 10 min, whereas the increase in sucralfate concentration in the intestinal area after administration of chewable tablets was observed after 30 min. After 60 min the amount of sucralfate remaining in the stomach was about 40% for the conventional tablet, about 20% for the effervescent preparation and about 80% for the chewable tablet. Thus, the effervescent preparation of sucralfate, administered as a suspension, was transported more rapidly into the intestine than the solid oral dosage forms. After 180 min almost all of the sucralfate liberated from the conventional and effervescent formulations was transported from the stomach into the intestine, whereas 21% of that liberated from chewable tablets was still present in the stomach. The dosage form of sucralfate seemed to have a significant effect on the gastrointestinal distribution and transit of sucralfate.