Effect of salicylate on the rectal absorption of lidocaine, levodopa, and cefmetazole in rats.

Salicylic acid and sodium salicylate have been found to enhance the absorption of lidocaine, levodopa, and cefmetazole after rectal administration to rats. These drugs represent a base (lidocaine), an acid (cefmetazole), and a substance (levodopa) which exists as a zwitterion in solution. The rectal absorption of each type of drug, as well as theophylline, a neutral compound, was enhanced by salicylate, particularly at pH values where the substances exist primarily in their ionic form. A requirement for the observed enhancement is that salicylate be present in the rectal membrane. The loss of drug from the perfusing solution was greater from solutions having an ionic strength of 0.75 than from those with mu = 0.15.