Factors that restrict intestinal cell permeation of cyclic prodrugs of an opioid peptide (DADLE): Part II. Role of metabolic enzymes in the intestinal mucosa

✍ Scribed by Hui Ouyang; Weiqing Chen; Thomas E. Andersen; Bente Steffansen; Ronald T. Borchardt

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 286 KB
• Volume: 98
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3549
• DOI: 10.1002/jps.21424

✦ Synopsis

The objective of this study was to determine the relative importance of metabolism by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes versus efflux by P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in restricting the intestinal mucosal permeation of cyclic prodrugs (AOA-DADLE, CA-DADLE, OMCA-DADLE) of the opioid peptide DADLE (H-Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-D-Leu-OH). AOA-DADLE, CA-DADLE, and OMCA-DADLE were shown to be rapidly metabolized by rat liver microsomes and human CYP-3A4 and to a lesser extent by esterases. Using an in situ perfused rat ileum model, ketoconazole, a CYP 3A inhibitor, was shown to have no effect (AOA-DADLE) or a slight enhancing effect (OMCA-DADLE, twofold; CA-DADLE, threefold) on their intestinal mucosal permeation. In contrast, inclusion of PSC-833, a P-gp inhibitor, in the perfusate significantly enhanced (7-16-fold) the permeation of the three cyclic prodrugs. Since PSC-833 was found to be a weak inhibitor of CYP 3A4 and to have no inhibitory effects on esterases, phenol sulfotransferases, and glucuronyltransferases, it is suggested PSC-833 enhances intestinal mucosal permeation of these cyclic prodrugs by inhibiting their polarized efflux and not by inhibiting their metabolism. Furthermore, efflux transporters (e.g., P-gp), not metabolic enzymes (e.g., CYP 3A, esterases), restrict the permeation of peptide prodrugs across the rat intestinal mucosa.