Objectives: Chronic administration of morphine and midazolam, alone or in combination, can induce tolerance to their effects. Data showed that co-administration of morphine and midazolam increased effective dose requirement of morphine, exceeding that observed with morphine alone.
Methods: To elucidate the pharmacokinetic component to the tolerance, we administered midazolam (2 mg/kg) and morphine (10 mg/kg) alone or their combination daily to rats for 12 days followed by a pharmacokinetic study on day 13. On the study day, each animal received a single bolus dose of 5 mg/kg morphine, and 2 mg/kg of midazolam 30 s later. Multiple blood samples were obtained for 6 h. Plasma drug concentrations were assayed by mass spectrometry optimized for small samples.
Key findings: Mean morphine clearance was as follows: 22.2, 27.2, 26.0 and 23.4 l/h per kg in the saline-saline, saline-midazolam, saline-morphine and midazolam-morphine groups, respectively. Corresponding midazolam clearances were 32.8, 23.0, 22.2 and 31.1 l/h per kg. ANOVA indicated no significant differences among the four groups in the clearances, half-lives, and volumes of distribution. Morphine and midazolam clearances were significantly correlated (R2 = 0.48, P < 0.001).
Conclusions: This animal model suggests that altered pharmacokinetics cannot explain tolerance evidenced as increased dose requirement for morphine or midazolam, when administered alone or combination, for extended periods.
Keywords: drug disposition; pharmacokinetics.
© 2016 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.