Terbutaline excretion into breast milk.

Oral treatment with the 12 adrenoceptor stimulating agent terbutaline produces bronchodilatation and relieves clinical symptoms in bronchial asthma (Legge et al., 1971; Formgren, 1975). Since bronchodilating therapy might be necessary during the lactation period, there is an obvious need for data on the excretion of terbutaline into breast milk and the plasma levels reached in nursing infants. No such information seems to be available at present (Wilson etal., 1980). Breast milk and blood were collected from two nursing mothers suffering from chronic bronchial asthma, after informed consent. They were treated with oral terbutaline (BricanyA AB Draco, Lund, Sweden), 5 mg three times daily, which is the dose recommended by the manufacturer. Inhaled ,8adrenoceptor agonists were withheld during the test day. In one case blood samples were also drawn from the nursing infant. Terbutaline concentrations in plasma and milk were determined in duplicate. Two ml samples of plasma and milk were extracted and derivatized according to the method of Jacobsson et al. (1980). Standardized cow milk (1% fat) was used for the