Bruce Mico

Ro 23-7637 (I) is a new drug under development for the treatment of metabolic diseases. A high-performance liquid chromatographic-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) analytical procedure for its analysis in dog plasma was developed and is reported here. Following C18 solid-phase extraction, the sample is applied to a strong cation-exchange column in the first dimension. The analyte and internal standard, Ro 24-4558 (II), are transferred to a base-deactivated C18 reversed-phase column in the second dimension (orthogonal separation mechanism), with UV detection at 254 nm. The reversed-phase solid-phase extraction provides a gross isolation of the drug, based on hydrophobicity. The first-dimension ion-exchange separation allows neutral species and anions to elute with the column void volume, while separating basic species according to pKa. The second dimension provides a high-resolution separation dependent upon the hydrophobicity of the sample species. The rationale for using orthogonal multidimensional chromatography was that an exhaustive examination of reversed-phase and normal-phase columns invariably resulted in co-elution of I with endogenous plasma components, which limited the sensitivity of the method. We have utilized C18 solid-phase extraction, followed by multidimensional HPLC-UV, to develop an accurate and precise analytical method whose limit of quantitation, 5 ng/ml using 0.5 ml of plasma, is determined by inherent detector sensitivity. Increased sensitivity can be readily achieved by using more sample or by using microbore HPLC on the second dimension.

Intravenous cimetidine, 300 mg or 400 mg, or ranitidine, 50 mg, was administered as a single dose to 36 volunteers in a randomized, crossover fashion. Aspirates of gastric juice were obtained after dosing, and the pH, titratable acidity, gastric fluid volume, and gastric acid output were determined from baseline through 71/2 hours for each subject. Each intervention significantly increased pH and suppressed hydrogen ion concentration, gastric fluid volume, and gastric acid output. Both the magnitudes of the changes when compared with baseline and the time of the mean maximum effects were similar in all three drug regimens. The effect of all three interventions on gastric fluid volume and gastric acid output diminished sharply after 6 hours. The data indicate that the gastric secretory response to all three interventions did not differ substantially.

The effect of renal function on the pharmacokinetics of maribavir, a novel anticytomegalovirus agent, was evaluated in 12 adults with normal renal function (creatinine clearance [CrCl] >80 mL/min) and 19 adults with renal impairment classified as mild (n = 5), moderate (n = 5), or severe (n = 9), as measured by CrCl 50-80, 30-49, and <30 mL/min, respectively. After a single oral dose of maribavir 400 mg, the pharmacokinetics of maribavir, based on total and unbound plasma concentrations, showed no statistically significant difference between subjects with normal renal function and subjects with mild/moderate or severe renal impairment. Renal impairment was associated with an increase in area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) values for an inactive metabolite of maribavir, VP 44469. Results were consistent with those of previous studies, which showed that very little maribavir was excreted unchanged in urine, whereas about 22% of an oral dose of maribavir is recovered in urine as VP 44469.

Abstract Hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 from phenobarbital-pretreated rats is destroyed in vitro, in the presence of NADPH, by terminal (monosubstituted) olefins such as 4-ethyl-1-hexene and 1-heptene. The destructive interaction apparently depends on no ...

To aid in the effort to discover novel agents for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, the relationships between pharmacokinetic parameters in the rat and lipophilicity and basicity were studied for a series of 6-chloro-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-3-substituted-1H-3-benzazepines. Eight compounds, ranging in lipophilicity from log P = 1.64 to 3.50 and basicity from pKa = 6.75 to 9.36, were studied. The compounds were administered iv to rats, and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated from the plasma concentration-time curves. Plasma protein binding was determined in vitro using equilibrium dialysis to allow calculation of steady state volume of distribution of unbound drug, Vss,u; and tissue binding. Stepwise regression analysis with each pharmacokinetic parameter as the dependent variable and log P and pKa as the independent variables was performed. In no case was there a significant relationship between a pharmacokinetic parameter and both of the independent variables. Statistically significant linear relationships were found between pKa and Vss and t 1/2z. Lipophilicity was found to correlate with the free fraction in plasma and the free fraction in tissues. The clearance parameters did not correlate with either of the physicochemical parameters. The pharmacokinetics of the one secondary amine in the series were clearly different from those of any of the tertiary amines. The clearance of the secondary amine was lower and the volume of distribution higher than any of the tertiary amines. These results demonstrate that alteration of the lipophilicity of 3-substituted benzazepines does not alter their pharmacokinetics in a predictable fashion but that the pharmacokinetics of secondary amines may be substantially different than tertiary amines.

The hepatic pigment accumulated as a consequence of the self-catalyzed destruction of cytochrome P-450 by norethisterone (17-hydroxy-19-nor-17 alpha-pregn-4-en-20-yn-3-one), after acidic methylation and purification, consists of two virtually identical, probably isomeric, porphyrins. Radiolabeled norethisterone is incorporated into both porphyrin products. The major of the two porphyrins exhibits a mass spectrometric molecular ion exactly equivalent to the sum of norethisterone and dimethylprotoporphyrin IX, less two hydrogen atoms: unequivocably demonstrating covalent association of the sterol with this porphyrin in a 1:1 ratio. Cytochrome P-450 is therefore destroyed by self-catalyzed addition of norethisterone to its heme prosthetic group. Cytochrome P-450 is also destroyed by norgestrel (13-ethyl-17-hydroxyl-18, 19-dinor-17 alpha-pregn-4-en-20-yn-3-one) and by 1-ethynylcyclohexanol but not by 17-hydroxy-19-nor-17alpha-pregn-4,20-dien-3-one. The destructive potential is thus clearly a property of the propargylic alcohol function. A mechanism involving enzymatic oxidation of the triple bond is postulated.

The single-dose toxicokinetics of monomethylamine has been characterized in the rat by HPLC assay of serial blood samples. Biphasic first-order elimination was observed following an iv bolus dose of 19 mumol/kg with a terminal half-life of 19.1 +/- 1.3 min (mean +/- SE, N = 4). The apparent steady state volume of distribution, systemic blood clearance, and renal blood clearance were 1.21 +/- 0.09 liter/kg, 53.4 +/- 3.5 ml/min/kg, and 5.72 +/- 0.53 ml/min/kg, respectively. The administration of an intragastric dose permitted the calculation of the systemic bioavailability of monomethylamine as 69 +/- 3%. Duplicate experiments using the structural analogue with deuterium atoms substituted for hydrogens on the methyl group revealed a much slower elimination of the compound, although ultimately, 5 times as much was excreted unchanged in the urine. Isotope effects calculated as the ratios of terminal half-life, systemic blood clearance, and systemic bioavailability were 1.9, 2.2, and 1.8, respectively.

Short-term exposure to diethyl ether strongly inhibits the metabolism of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Twenty-six 6-week-old male Fischer 344 rats were exposed to ether vapor until their righting reflex was lost (approximately 2 min). The animals were removed from the ether and NDMA was immediately administered by i.v. bolus injection at a dose of 300 microgram/kg via a cannula surgically inserted 20 h earlier. A second group of 28 rats received injections of NDMA in an identical manner but without ether exposure. In the unanesthetized animals blood levels of NDMA declined with a half-life of 11 min; by contrast essentially constant blood levels of NDMA were observed in ether-treated animals for 120 min after removal from the anesthetic. The apparent total systemic clearance for the 5-h experiment was reduced from 43 ml/min/kg without ether to 5 ml/min/kg with ether. Diethyl ether has been found previously to inhibit the metabolism of other drugs requiring oxidative metabolism but the suppression of clearance documented here appears to be unusually pronounced. It is recommended that ether's potential for altering metabolic rates be carefully considered when planning or interpreting animal experiments.

Prior in vitro investigations demonstrated that the P450 suicide substrate, 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT), was a potent inhibitor of xenobiotic metabolism but had no effect on steroidogenic enzymes in the guinea pig adrenal cortex. Studies were done to determine if ABT administration of guinea pigs in vivo also selectively inhibited adrenal xenobiotic metabolism. At single doses of 25 or 50 mg/kg, ABT effected rapid decreases in spectrally detectable adrenal P450 concentrations. The higher dose caused approx. 75% decreases in microsomal and mitochondrial P450 levels within 2 h. The decreases in P450 were sustained for 24 h but concentrations returned to control levels within 72 h. Accompanying the ABT-induced decreases in adrenal P450 content were proportionately similar decreases in P450-mediated xenobiotic and steroid metabolism. Microsomal benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase, benzphetamine N-demethylase, 17 alpha-hydroxylase and 21-hydroxylase activities were decreased to 20-25% of control v...

Enzymatic denitrosation is a potentially inactivating metabolic route that has been shown to convert carcinogenic /V-nitrosodimethylamine (NDIV1A) to methylamine (MA) in vitro. To investigate its quantitative course in vivo, groups of 8-week-old male Fischer rats have been given small (8-15 ¿tmol/kg) p.o. or i.v. bolus doses of uC-labeled NDMA and the subsequent formation of radioactive MA has been monitored by

ABSTRACT Many drugs, insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, and solvents contain aliphatic carbon-halogen bonds. Although it was once thought that such bonds were not broken appreciably in the body, it is now known that enzymatic dehalogenations may occur by several different mechanisms. These reactions include nucleophilic substitutions with glutathione, oxidations, and reductions. These reactions frequently lead to reactive intermediates, which in several cases appear to be responsible, at least in part for the toxicity seen after exposure to the parent halogenated compound.The object of this review is to describe a recently observed pathway of metabolism of halogenated compounds which involves the formation of novel electrophilic halogen metabolites.

The pharmacologic, toxicologic, and microscopic effects of 100 mg/kg/day of 1-Aminobenzotriazole (ABT), a suicide substrate inhibitor of cytochromes P450, were assessed in male Sprague-Dawley rats over a 13-week period. Hepatic cytochromes P450 levels and resorufin dealkylase activity were decreased to less than 30% of control values beginning at Day 2 and from Day 8 to Day 92. These decreases were not accompanied by overt clinical toxicity, e.g., changes in body weight, food consumption, or clinical appearance, during the study. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, and erythrocyte counts were slightly decreased at 8, 29, and 92 days and were accompanied by increased spleen weights and extramedullary hematopoiesis. Additionally, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were slightly increased at 92 days. Increases in liver weights at 8, 29, and 92 days were accompanied by centrilobular hypertrophy and intracytoplasmic vacuolization consistent with lipid accumulation. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was slightly elevated and triiodothyronine and thyroxine were slightly decreased at 29 days. TSH was also slightly elevated at 8 and 92 days, and thyroid gland weights were increased at 8, 29, and 92 days with microscopic evidence of hyperplasia and hypertrophy of thyroid gland follicular cells. Increased adrenal weights and hypertrophy of the zona fascicularis of the adrenal gland were observed at 8, 29, and 92 days. Kidney weights were also increased at these assessments. Changes in the thyroid gland, the thyroid hormone profile, and the liver may reflect increased synthesis of microsomal enzymes, an effect that is sometimes difficult to demonstrate directly with suicide substrate inhibitors of cytochromes P450. In general, the effects of daily ABT administration to male rats at a dose that significantly reduces oxidative metabolism over a 13-week period were considered to be well-tolerated under controlled laboratory conditions.

1-Aminobenzotriazole (ABT) is a suicide substrate of both hepatic and pulmonary cytochromes P450. The present studies were designed to compare the effects of ABT on hepatic and renal metabolism. Hepatic and renal microsomes and cytosol were prepared from male Sprague-Dawley rats following ABT pretreatment (0-100 mg/kg ip) for various times. Administration of 100 mg ABT/kg produced profound reductions in P450 content in both liver and kidney within 2 hr; loss of P450 in both tissues persisted for at least 48 hours. ABT-induced destruction of P450 was dose-dependent. Maximal destruction of about 80% of total hepatic P450 occurred at dosages of ABT equal to or greater than 10 mg/kg. Maximal destruction of about 80% of total renal P450 occurred at dosages of ABT equal to or greater than 50 mg/kg. In vitro, ABT rapidly and efficiently destroyed P450 in both hepatic and renal microsomes prepared from naive male Sprague-Dawley rats. Incubation of hepatic or renal microsomes in vitro with ABT produced detectable destruction of P450 within 5 min. Maximal destruction of P450 occurred within 10 min in both hepatic and renal microsomes during in vitro incubation with ABT. ABT-induced destruction of P450 in vitro was concentration-dependent. For hepatic microsomes, maximal destruction of about 70% of P450 required concentrations of ABT equal to or greater than 10 mM. For renal microsomes, maximal destruction of about 80% of P450 required concentrations of ABT equal to or greater than 10 mM. In both liver and kidney, only P450 content and P450-dependent activities were significantly decreased.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

In order to determine whether CCl4, CBrCl3, CBr4 or CHCl3 undergo oxidative metabolism to electrophilic halogens by liver microsomes, they were incubated with liver microsomes from phenobarbital pretreated rats in the presence of NADPH and 2,6-dimethylphenol. The analysis of the reaction mixtures by capillary gas chromatography mass spectrometry revealed that 4-chloro-2,6-dimethylphenol was a metabolite of CCl4 and CBrCl3 whereas 4-bromo-2,6-dimethylphenol was a metabolite of CBr4. The formation of the metabolites was significantly decreased when the reactions were conducted with heat denatured microsomes, in the absence of NADPH or under an atmosphere of N2. These results indicate that the chlorines of CBrCl3 and CCl4 and the bromines of CBr4 are oxidatively metabolized by rat liver microsomes to electrophilic and potentially toxic metabolites.

... Andrew T. Pudzianowski,f Gilda H. hew,*+ Bruce A. Mico,e Richard V. Branchflower,# and Lance R. Pohls Contribution from the Life Sciences Division, SRI International, Menlo Park, California 94025, and Laboratory ... SOC., 102,5443 (11) AT Pudzianowski and GH Loew, J. Mol. ...

A sensitive, specific, and accurate assay for 4-(2-di-N,N-propylaminoethyl)-2-(3H)-indolone, 1 (SK&F 101468), in plasma was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. The method involves sample preparation by solid-phase extraction, elution of 1 and the internal standard with a volatile solvent, concentration, and reversed-phase chromatography in the presence of an ion-pairing agent. Using 1 mL of plasma, 5 ng/mL of 1 is detectable and 10 ng/mL of 1 can be quantitated. The recovery of 1 and internal standard from plasma is greater than 95%. The within-day precision of this method at 17.5, 219, and 395 ng/mL is 3.4, 1.3, and 1.5%, respectively. The between-day precision at these concentrations is 6.0, 1.9, and 2.6%, with a mean accuracy of 100.6, 98.3, and 100.2%, respectively. Stability studies indicate that 1 is stable in plasma at -80 degrees C for less than or equal to 180 d.

The absorption, protein binding, blood-to-plasma ratio, renal excretion, and pharmacokinetics of the dopamine-2 agonists (D2-agonists) 4-(2-di-n-propylaminoethyl)-7-hydroxy-2-(3H)-indolone (1), N-(2'-hydroxy-5'-[N,N-di-n-propylaminoethylphenyl])methanesulfonamide (2), and 4-(2-di-n-propylaminoethyl)-2-(3H)-indolone (3) were examined in dogs and rats. On the basis of relative cumulative urinary recoveries of radiolabeled drug, all three compounds are well absorbed in rats and dogs. In dogs, the free fractions in plasma of unchanged 1, 2, and 3, determined by in vitro studies, were 74, 86, and 63%, respectively, and the protein binding was constant with increasing concentration. The blood-to-plasma partition ratios of the respective compounds were 1.22, 1.14, and 1.16 in dogs, and the ratios were constant with increasing concentration. Large differences between species (dogs, rats, and humans) in protein binding and blood-to-plasma ratios were not seen. The clearances (blood or plasma) of 1 and 2 in dogs were significantly greater than the clearance of 3. The clearance of 3 was almost exclusively nonrenal, whereas 13% of 1 and 2 were recovered unchanged in urine. The steady-state volumes of distribution and the distribution and elimination half-lives of the three compounds were not significantly different. Importantly, the mean residence time of 3 (147 min) in dogs was significantly longer than those of 1 (90 min) and 2 (96 min). The results of analogous studies in rats indicate that 1 and 2 are more rapidly metabolized than 3.

In the previous report, we reported the results of absorption, protein binding, and pharmacokinetics of the dopamine-2 agonists (D2-agonists) 4-(2-di-n-propylaminoethyl)-7-hydroxy-2-(3H)-indolone, N-(2'-hydroxy-5'-[N,N-di-n-propylaminoethylphenyl])methanesulfonamide, and 4-(di-n-propylaminoethyl)-2-(3H)-indolone. Both phenolic compounds, 1 and 2, were subject to more rapid metabolism than the nonphenol 3. In the present study, we investigated the metabolic basis of the differences in the pharmacokinetics of these compounds. In both rats and dogs, the principal urinary metabolite of 1 and 2 was the corresponding glucuronide. In contrast, 3 was first converted to 1 which then was converted to a glucuronide. On the basis of the urinary excretion of 1 and its glucuronide after intravenous administration of 1 and 3, approximately 78% of the dose of 3 in rats and 58% in dogs was converted to 1. The depropyl analogue of 3 was identified as a minor urinary metabolite. 4-(2-Di-n-propylaminoethyl)-7-hydroxy-2-(3H)-indolone was found in the plasma of rats, dogs, and cynomolgus monkeys treated with 3. The concentration of 1 declined in parallel with that of 3 in dogs and monkeys, indicating that the true half-life of 1 is shorter than or equal to that of 3. On the basis of plasma concentrations of 1 in dogs, the apparent conversion of 3 to 1 was 9%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Prior to the introduction of an intravenous dosage form for use in humans, prazosin pharmacokinetic studies emphasizing clearance, hepatic extraction, and bioavailability were carried out in dogs. Two such canine studies reported significantly different values for the oral bioavailability of prazosin. This study investigated the differences in prazosin oral availability in beagle dogs. Three male animals were administered an intravenous (1 mg/kg) and three different oral doses (15, 5, and 1 mg) with a 7-day washout between study days. The mean predicted bioavailability, based on hepatic clearance and an estimate for liver blood flow, was 74%. The mean absolute bioavailabilities, determined for each dose in each animal by comparing dose-corrected areas under the plasma concentration-time curve, were 82, 27, and 23%. Although good agreement was evident in bioavailability between the 15-mg oral dose and what was predicted, calculated availabilities for the 5-mg and 1-mg oral doses were approximately one-third the predicted value. The results obtained from this study, together with data from the two previous studies, indicate that the bioavailability of prazosin in dogs is dose-dependent. Possible mechanisms for this observation are also presented.

Studies were done to determine the effects of a P450 suicide inhibitor, 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT), on adrenal steroid and xenobiotic metabolism. Incubation of guinea pig adrenal microsomes with ABT plus an NADPH-generating system caused a time-dependent decline in total P450 concentrations. The maximal decrease in P450 levels was approximately 35% and was accompanied by an equimolar decrease in heme content. Western blot analyses indicated that ABT had no effect on P450 apoprotein levels. Benzphetamine (BZ) N-demethylase and benzo[a]pyrene (BP) hydroxylase activities were inhibited almost completely by microsomal incubations with ABT. In contrast, neither steroid 17 alpha-hydroxylase nor 21-hydroxylase activity was affected by ABT. The steroid-induced type I spectral change in adrenal microsomes also was not affected by ABT, whereas that induced by BZ was eliminated. Similar studies with adrenal mitochondria indicated that ABT had no effect on mitochondrial P450 concentrations or on mitochondrial steroid metabolism. The results demonstrate that the in vitro actions of ABT on adrenal cytochromes P450 are highly selective for those isozymes that catalyze xenobiotic metabolism. Therefore, ABT should serve as a useful probe for further characterization of adrenal xenobiotic-metabolizing P450 isozymes.

Recent investigations demonstrated that administration of 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT) to rats caused adrenal gland enlargement. Studies were done to pursue the mechanism(s) involved. Preliminary experiments revealed that the adrenal enlargement caused by ABT was associated with a decline in plasma corticosterone concentrations, suggesting inhibition of adrenal steroidogenesis. Indeed, a single injection of ABT (25 or 50 mg/kg body weight) to rats caused concentration-dependent declines (60-80%) in adrenal mitochondrial and microsomal cytochrome P450 (P450) concentrations. The decreases in adrenal P450 levels exceeded those in hepatic microsomes. Accompanying the declines in adrenal P450 concentrations were decreases in steroid hydroxylase activities. Mitochondrial 11 beta-hydroxylase and cholesterol side-chain cleavage activities and microsomal 21-hydroxylase activity were diminished markedly (60-90%) by ABT treatment. In contrast, activity of adrenal 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-isomerase was not affected by ABT, indicating specificity for P450-dependent reactions. Incubation of adrenal microsomes or mitochondria in vitro with ABT plus an NADPH-generating system had no effect on P450 concentrations or on steroid hydroxylase activities. Similar incubations with hepatic microsomes caused declines in P450 levels and in the rates of P450-mediated xenobiotic metabolism. The results demonstrate that ABT is a potent inhibitor of adrenal steroid hydroxylases in vivo, but the in vitro studies indicate that the mechanism of action differs from that on other P450 isozymes. The absence of inhibitor effects in vitro suggests that an extra-adrenal metabolite of ABT is responsible for the in vivo inactivation of steroidogenic enzymes.

To investigate the origins of an organotropic shift toward increasing esophageal carcinogenicity and DNA alkylation caused by beta-trideuteration of the hepatocarcinogen, N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), the single-dose toxicokinetics of NMEA and N-nitrosomethyl(2,2,2-trideuterioethyl)amine (NMEA-d3) has been characterized in 8-week-old male Fischer 344 rats by analysis using high performance liquid chromatography of serial blood samples. An i.v. bolus dose of 0.6 mumol/kg to rats revealed biphasic first order elimination with a terminal half-life of 9.46 +/- 0.69 min for unchanged NMEA and 28.9 +/- 2.4 min for total radioactivity. Extensive conversion to polar metabolites was observed in the chromatograms. The systemic blood clearance and apparent steady-state volume of distribution for unchanged NMEA were 39.9 +/- 4.6 ml/min/kg and 496 +/- 36 ml/kg, respectively. There was negligible plasma protein binding and no detectable NMEA was excreted unchanged in the urine. Larger doses given by gavage indicated a systemic bioavailability of 25 +/- 1%. Similar doses of NMEA-d3 given to other groups of rats revealed no significant differences in any of the toxicokinetic parameters. No N-nitrosomethyl(2-hydroxyethyl)amine was found as a detectable metabolite of NMEA or NMEA-d3 in any of the blood or urine samples which were analyzed. When considered together, the data suggest that previously observed differences in organ specificity for the carcinogens, NMEA and NMEA-d3, are not due to differences in the total amounts of nitrosamine reaching particular tissues, but may have other localized causes such as differences in the enzymes responsible for metabolism which are present in each tissue.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)