RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Enhanced Methamphetamine Metabolism in Rhesus Macaque As Compared To Human: An Analysis Using a Novel LCMS/MS Method, Kinetic Study, and Substrate Docking JF Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO Drug Metab Dispos FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP dmd.114.059378 DO 10.1124/dmd.114.059378 A1 Earla, Ravinder A1 Kumar, Santosh A1 Wang, Lei A1 Bosinger, Steve A1 Li, Junhao A1 Shah, Ankit A1 Gangwani, Mohitkumar A1 Nookala, Anantha A1 Liu, Xun A1 Cao, Lu A1 Jackson, Austin A1 Silverstein, Peter A1 Fox, Howard A1 Li, Weihua A1 Kumar, Anil YR 2014 UL http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2014/10/24/dmd.114.059378.abstract AB Methamphetamine (MA), which remains one of the widely used drugs of abuse, is metabolized by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) family of enzymes in humans. However, metabolism of methamphetamine in macaques is poorly understood. Therefore, we first developed and validated a very sensitive LC-MS/MS method using solid phase extraction of rhesus plasma with a lower limit of quantitation at 1.09 ng/mL for MA and its metabolites, 4-hydroxy methamphetamine (4-OHMA), amphetamine (AM), 4-OH amphetamine (4-OHAM), and norephedrine. We then analyzed plasma samples of MA-treated rhesus, which showed >10-fold higher concentrations of AM (~29 ng/mL) and 4-OHAM (~28 ng/mL) than MA (~2 ng/mL). Since the plasma levels of MA metabolites in rhesus were much higher than in human samples, we examined MA metabolism in human and rhesus microsomes. Interestingly, the results showed that AM and 4-OHAM were formed more rapidly and the catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) for the formation of AM was ~8-fold higher in rhesus than in human microsomes. We further examined the differences in these kinetic characteristics using three selective inhibitors of each human CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 enzymes. The results showed that each of these inhibitors inhibited both d- and l-MA metabolism by 20-60% in human microsomes, but not in rhesus microsomes. The differences between human and rhesus CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 enzymes were further assessed by docking studies for both d-and l-MA. In conclusion, our results demonstrated an enhanced MA metabolism in rhesus compared to human, which is likely to be caused by differences in MA-metabolizing CYP-enzymes between these species.