Pharmacokinetics of total and unbound prednisone and prednisolone in stable kidney transplant recipients with diabetes mellitus.

Background and Objective The corticosteroid prednisone is an important component of post transplantation immunosuppressive therapy. Pharmacokinetic parameters of prednisone or its pharmacologically active metabolite, prednisolone, are not well characterized in transplant recipients. The objective of the present study was to compare the pharmacokinetics of total and unbound prednisone and prednisolone in diabetic and nondiabetic stable kidney transplant recipients and to evaluate the factors influencing plasma protein binding of prednisolone.