TY - JOUR T1 - EFFECT OF P-GLYCOPROTEIN ON INTESTINAL ABSORPTION AND BRAIN PENETRATION OF ANTIALLERGIC AGENT BEPOTASTINE BESILATE JF - Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO - Drug Metab Dispos SP - 793 LP - 799 DO - 10.1124/dmd.105.007559 VL - 34 IS - 5 AU - Rikiya Ohashi AU - Yukari Kamikozawa AU - Mika Sugiura AU - Hajime Fukuda AU - Hikaru Yabuuchi AU - Ikumi Tamai Y1 - 2006/05/01 UR - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/34/5/793.abstract N2 - The antiallergic agent bepotastine besilate is a nonsedating, second-generation H1-antagonist with high oral absorption and negligible distribution into brain. To clarify the role of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the pharmacokinetics of bepotastine, intestinal absorption and brain penetration studies were performed. [14C]Bepotastine transport in P-gp-overexpressed LLC-PK1 cells indicated that bepotastine was a substrate of P-gp. The affinity of bepotastine to P-gp estimated by ATPase activity assay was low, with a Km value of 1.25 mM. After i.v. administration, the brain/plasma free concentration ratio in mdr1-knockout mice was 3 times higher than that in wild-type mice. The in situ intestinal absorption studies of [14C]bepotastine in rats showed a clear regional difference, showing highest permeability at the upper part of small intestine with a decreasing permeability in the descending part of small intestine. The apparent absorption rate constant (ka) of [14C]bepotastine in the small intestine was greatly increased by cyclosporin A and verapamil, especially in the distal portion, and the site-specific absorption of [14C]bepotastine disappeared. The concentration dependence of ka of [14C]bepotastine was observed with a higher ka at higher concentration (20 mM) compared with that at lower concentration (1 μM). In conclusion, bepotastine is a substrate for P-gp, and P-gp clearly limited the brain distribution of bepotastine, whereas the effect of P-gp on intestinal absorption of bepotastine was minimal, presumably because of high membrane permeability at the upper region of small intestine where P-gp is less expressed. Such intestinal absorption property of bepotastine is distinctly different from the low membrane-permeable P-gp substrate fexofenadine. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ER -