Enhanced gastrointestinal absorption of drugs in rats pretreated with the synthetic immunomodulator, levamisole.

The effect of levamisole on drug absorption from the rat small intestine has been investigated by means of an in-situ recirculation technique. The absorption of salicylic acid, sulphanilamide and aminopyrine was significantly increased by the intraperitoneal administration of levamisole (2 mg) 1 day before the absorption studies, but there was no significant effect on absorption from the small intestine of indomethacin, bromthymol blue, sulphafurazole (sulfisoxazole), quinine, sulphanilic acid, phenol red (phenolsulfonphthalein), L-tryptophan and fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextrans. The effect of levamisole on the absorption from the small intestine of salicylic acid was marginally dose- and time-dependent, the maximal effect being observed after pretreatment with 2 mg of levamisole 1 day before the absorption studies. Sulphanilamide, similarly, was better sorbed from the small intestine and also from the stomach in the presence of levamisole. The intraperitoneal administration of levamisole may influence the absorption of some low molecular weight drugs from the gastrointestinal tract.