After 2 weeks of drug discontinuation there was a remnant therapeutic effect in both groups, with the trend to be more pronounced in the GS group. For these properties GS seems particularly indicated in the long-term treatments needed in osteoarthritis. Pharmacokinetics of glucosamine in the dog and in man. Immediately after i.v. administration, the radioactivity in plasma is due to glucosamine, and freely diffuses into organs and tissues. The radioactivity, after i.v. administration, diffuses rapidly from blood into the body.
Some organs show an active uptake of radioactivity, e.g. the liver and the kidney.
Other tissues, such as the articular cartilage, also have an active uptake. In most other organs the radioactivity found can be explained by passive diffusion processes from plasma. The pattern of disappearance, metabolic transformation, tissue distribution and excretion of the radioactivity are consistent with those found after i.v. administration. Inhibition of glucosamine synthesis by salicylates, hydrocortisone and two mon-ulcerogenic drugs. The in vitro inhibition of the glucosamine synthetase activity of rat gastric mucosal homogenates by sodium salicylate and phenylbutazone has been previously reported and has been adduced as a possible mechanism for the ulcerogenic effect of these drugs.