Elimination characteristics of disulfiram over time in five alcoholic volunteers: a preliminary study.

The authors studied the elimination of disulfiram and its metabolites for 24 hours after disulfiram administration in five healthy male alcoholic volunteers. Using high-performance liquid chromatography, they found that a single 500-mg dose resulted in a gradual increase in plasma disulfiram and its metabolites, with peak levels generally occurring 8 hours after dosing. There was considerable interpatient variability (e.g., in one volunteer no disulfiram was detected during the entire 24-hour sampling period). The authors also found that breath carbon disulfide was 9.1% of the dose of disulfiram administered, which is less than that expected theoretically.