Arterial-venous plasma concentration differences of meprobamate in acute human poisonings.

Arterial-venous plasma concentration differences of meprobamate were studied on admission of acute overdose in man. The patients were divided in two groups. In the control group (n = 25) two successive blood samples were collected from the same vessel. In the study group (n = 35) femoral arterial and venous blood samples were collected simultaneously. In the control group the differences were not significant. In the study group the differences were statistically significant (P less than 0.01). The present study suggests that the origin of blood samples should be stated for toxicological studies and that the toxicokinetics may be more complex than those recognized previously.