Noninvasive quantitation of drug concentration in prostate and seminal vesicles: improvement and validation with desipramine and aspirin.

The accessory glands of the male genital tract are the sites of several major health problems, including benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. We aimed to validate and improve our noninvasive method for the quantitation of drug concentrations in these physiological subcompartments. Twenty-seven men were dosed with 100 mg desipramine (a weak base) and 975 mg aspirin (a weak acid) and ejaculated their semen in 1 pass across 5 compartments of a collection device 2.5 hours later. A Bayesian latent-variable model previously developed by our group was further advanced for the estimation of drug concentrations in prostate and seminal vesicles based on drug and biomarker concentrations in the split ejaculate. Under normality assumptions, desipramine concentration (with 95% credible intervals) in prostate and seminal vesicles were 27 (8.3-52) ng/mL and 7.6 (4.0-11) ng/mL, respectively; salicylate concentration in prostate and seminal vesicles were 2.0 (0.093-6.5) microg/mL, and 9.9 (8.2-12) microg/mL, respectively. The prostate-to-seminal vesicles concentration ratio was 0.20 (0.0087-0.75) for salicylate and 3.6 (0.91-9.9) for desipramine. We conclude that our quantitative analysis along with the split ejaculate method is sensitive, reproducible, and applicable for the assessment of pharmacokinetics of the accessory glands of the male genital tract.