Brand Name: Albafort, Vitamin B2
Generic Name: Riboflavin
Vitamin B2 is a water-soluble, B complex vitamin, required for tissue respiration and indirectly involved in maintaining erythrocyte integrity.
Vitamin B2 deficiency is associated with conditions such as alcoholism, malignancy, cardiac disease, infection, chronic diarrhea, malabsorption syndrome, diabetes mellitus and chronic debilitating diseases. Deficiency is manifested by angular stomatitis, magenta tongue, fissuring of the lips and desquamation of mucous membranes, redness and scaling of the scrotum, normocytic and normochronic anemia and neuropathy.
Pharmacokinetics
Vitamin B2 is readily absorbed from the upper gastrointestinal tract, except in the presence of malabsorption syndromes. The extent of gastrointestinal absorption is increased when the drug is administered with food and is decreased in patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis or biliary obstruction.
Vitamin B2 is inactive until phosphorylated to flavin mononucleotide (FMN) in gastrointestinal mucosal cells, erythrocytes and the liver; FMN is converted to another coenzyme, flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Free vitamin B2 is present in the retina. In blood, about 60% of FAD and FMN is protein bound.
The biologic half-life is about 66 to 84 minutes following oral or im administration of a single large dose in healthy individuals.
Only about 9% of the drug is excreted unchanged; the fate of the remainder is unknown. Excretion appears to involve renal tubular secretion as well as glomerular filtration. Amounts in excess of the body's needs are excreted in urine.
Prophylaxis and treatment of vitamin B2 deficiency.
Other uses: Oral riboflavin has shown some efficacy in migraine prophylaxis but more trials are needed.
Patients hypersensitive to any component of vitamin B2 formulations. |
