@article {Kutsukakedmd.118.083287, author = {Takaya Kutsukake and Yoichi Furukawa and Kyoko Ondo and Saki Gotoh and Tatsuki Fukami and Miki Nakajima}, title = {Quantitative Analysis of Ugt1a and Ugt2b mRNA Expression in Rat Liver and Small Intestine: Sex and Strain Differences}, elocation-id = {dmd.118.083287}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.1124/dmd.118.083287}, publisher = {American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics}, abstract = {UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) catalyze the glucuronidation of numerous endogenous and exogenous compounds to facilitate their excretion from the body. Rats are most widely used in nonclinical studies. Information regarding UGT species differences between rats and humans would be helpful for understanding human pharmacokinetics. In this study, we determined the absolute mRNA expressions of Ugt isoforms in the livers and small intestines of male and female Sprague-Dawley, Fischer344 and Wistar rats. The sum of the mRNA levels of Ugt isoforms expressed in the liver was significantly (P \< 0.005) higher than that in the small intestine regardless of the strain and sex. Ugt2b mRNA levels represented approximately 80\% of the total Ugt mRNA levels in the liver, while Ugt1a mRNA levels accounted for almost 90\% in the small intestine. Ugt2b2 mRNA was specifically expressed in the livers of Wistar rats, resulting in a 2-fold higher expression of the total hepatic Ugt mRNA in Wistar rats than that in the other strains. In the small intestine, Wistar rats showed prominently higher Ugt2b3 and Ugt2b8 mRNA levels than the other strains. The difference between sexes was remarkable with regards to the hepatic Ugt1a10 in any of the strains, although slight differences between the sexes were also observed in multiple Ugt isoforms. Taken together, this study revealed sex and strain differences in the mRNA levels of rat Ugts. The data shown here would be useful for the selection of rat strains in nonclinical studies.}, issn = {0090-9556}, URL = {https://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2018/11/02/dmd.118.083287}, eprint = {https://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2018/11/02/dmd.118.083287.full.pdf}, journal = {Drug Metabolism and Disposition} }