The anti-ulcer drug sucralfate does not affect gastric nicotine levels.

OBJECTIVE

It has been claimed that sucralfate can overcome the negative effects of nicotine in patients with peptic ulcer disease, although the possible mechanism being unknown. This study was performed in order to test whether sucralfate was capable of binding intragastric nicotine, thus making it impossible for the substance to exert effect.

METHODS

Nicotine was administered via transdermal patches or as capsules yielding gastric concentrations of 40-2980 ng.ml-1. Gastric juice aspirates (n = 9) were incubated with sucralfate, which was then separated by centrifugation, and the nicotine concentration was compared in incubated and non-incubated samples.

RESULTS

A median decrease of 13% (range 0-27%) in nicotine concentration was seen after incubation with sucralfate (P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The binding of nicotine to the precipitating agent sucralfate is not sufficient effectively to remove nicotine from the gastric juice.