Experimental study of pharmacokinetics of external, whole-body bathing application of ivermectin

• Published in: Journal of dermatology Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 87 - 89
• Main Authors: Miyajima, Atsushi, Komoda, Masayo, Akagi, Keita, Yuzawa, Kaoru, Yoshimasu, Takashi, Yamamoto, Yosuke, Hirota, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Antiparasitic Agents - administration & dosage; Antiparasitic Agents - pharmacokinetics; bathing; ivermectin; Ivermectin - administration & dosage; Ivermectin - pharmacokinetics; Male; rats; Rats, Wistar; scabies; Scabies - drug therapy; skin; skin; bathing; rats; ivermectin; scabies
• ISSN: 0385-2407; 1346-8138
• DOI: 10.1111/1346-8138.12728

As a novel method improving the safety of conventional oral ivermectin (IVM) for scabies treatment, we conceived an idea called the “whole‐body bathing method”. In this method, the patients would bathe themselves in a bathing fluid containing IVM at an effective concentration. To evaluate the feasibility of the method, we investigated the IVM concentration in the skin and plasma after bathing rats in a fluid containing 100 ng/mL of IVM. After the bathing, the concentration of IVM in the skin was more than 400 ng/g wet weight and was maintained until 8 h after the bathing. The concentration was clearly higher than that in patients taking IVM p.o. as previously reported; IVM was not detected in plasma in the present study. Thus, the method would be a preferable drug delivery system for the skin application of IVM compared with p.o. administration.