Evaluation of the efficacy of 99mTc-labeled ascorbic acid on common cold–cough drugs in rats

Multiple-drug therapy is common in current clinical practice. Because of this, people have been ready to embrace simplistic approaches to cold treatment, such as vitamin C and zinc. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is mostly administrated together with cough–cold drugs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cough–cold drugs on the uptake of ascorbic acid using ^99mTc-ascorbic acid (^99mTc-AA) in male albino Wistar rats. Ascorbic acid was labeled with Tc-99m and the distribution of ^99mTc-AA was investigated. The uptake of ^99mTc-AA was evaluated when administrated alone (group I), with chlorpheniramine maleate (CPR) (group II), with phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride (PPA) (group III), and with acetaminophen (APAP) (group IV). In some organs (apart from kidneys, intestinal system, and stomach) the uptake of ^99mTc-AA was not significantly affected by the administration of ^99mTc with CPR or ^99mTc with APAP at 120 min. On the other hand, there was significant difference in the uptake of ^99mTc-AA between groups I and III. The administration of ^99mTc-AA with PPA in rats caused an increase of the uptake of ^99mTc-AA at 120 min in the investigated organs compared to the administration of ^99mTc-AA alone. The present data show that vitamin C might be more effective for the treatment of common cold when coadministered with PPA compared to with CPR, with APAP, or alone.