Trandolapril is the prodrug of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. It has been proposed that its active metabolite, trandolaprilat, is mainly excreted in bile, but this has not been clearly demonstrated. Recently it has been reported that temocaprilat, an active metabolite of the ACE inhibitor temocapril, is effectively excreted in bile via an ATP-dependent active transporter (canalicular multispecific organic anion transporter: cMOAT). To investigate whether trandolaprilat has the pharmacological ability to affect the cMOAT system in a manner similar to temocaprilat. The lipophilicity of trandolaprilat and temocaprilat was measured to determine the n-octanol-water partition coefficients. The dose-dependent inhibition of the up-take of [3H]-estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide and [3H]-2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione, which are good substrates for cMOAT, in canalicular membrane vesicles (CMVs) prepared from Sprague-Dawley rats was determined in the presence of trandolaprilat and temocaprilat. The partition coefficient of trandolaprilat (log Po/w - 1.1) was about 30 times higher than that of temocaprilat (log Po/w - 2.5). The uptake of [3H]-estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide and [3H]-2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione was dose-dependently inhibited by the presence of temocaprilat, but trandolaprilat had no effect on the transport of [3H]-estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide or [3H]-2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione into CMVs even at concentrations as high as 200 microM. It could be concluded that trandolaprilat has a higher lipophilicity than temocaprilat. But the hepatobiliary excretion system via cMOAT may not contribute to the excretion of trandolaprilat in bile.