RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Diclofenac and Its Acyl Glucuronide: Determination of In Vivo Exposure in Human Subjects and Characterization as Human Drug Transporter Substrates In Vitro JF Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO Drug Metab Dispos FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP 320 OP 328 DO 10.1124/dmd.115.066944 VO 44 IS 3 A1 Yueping Zhang A1 Yong-Hae Han A1 Siva Prasad Putluru A1 Murali Krishna Matta A1 Prashant Kole A1 Sandhya Mandlekar A1 Michael T. Furlong A1 Tongtong Liu A1 Ramaswamy A. Iyer A1 Punit Marathe A1 Zheng Yang A1 Yurong Lai A1 A. David Rodrigues YR 2016 UL http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/44/3/320.abstract AB Although the metabolism and disposition of diclofenac (DF) has been studied extensively, information regarding the plasma levels of its acyl-β-d-glucuronide (DF-AG), a major metabolite, in human subjects is limited. Therefore, DF-AG concentrations were determined in plasma (acidified blood derived) of six healthy volunteers following a single oral DF dose (50 mg). Levels of DF-AG in plasma were high, as reflected by a DF-AG/DF ratio of 0.62 ± 0.21 (Cmax mean ± S.D.) and 0.84 ± 0.21 (area under the concentration-time curve mean ± S.D.). Both DF and DF-AG were also studied as substrates of different human drug transporters in vitro. DF was identified as a substrate of organic anion transporter (OAT) 2 only (Km = 46.8 µM). In contrast, DF-AG was identified as a substrate of numerous OATs (Km = 8.6, 60.2, 103.9, and 112 µM for OAT2, OAT1, OAT4, and OAT3, respectively), two organic anion–transporting polypeptides (OATP1B1, Km = 34 µM; OATP2B1, Km = 105 µM), breast cancer resistance protein (Km = 152 µM), and two multidrug resistance proteins (MRP2, Km = 145 µM; MRP3, Km = 196 µM). It is concluded that the disposition of DF-AG, once formed, can be mediated by various candidate transporters known to be expressed in the kidney (basolateral, OAT1, OAT2, and OAT3; apical, MRP2, BCRP, and OAT4) and liver (canalicular, MRP2 and BCRP; basolateral, OATP1B1, OATP2B1, OAT2, and MRP3). DF-AG is unstable in plasma and undergoes conversion to parent DF. Therefore, caution is warranted when assessing renal and hepatic transporter-mediated drug-drug interactions with DF and DF-AG.