Dose-Dependent Pharmacokinetics
Abstract
l-738,167 is a potent and long-acting fibrinogen receptor antagonist and may be useful for treatment of chronic thrombotic occlusive disorders. The purposes of this study were to characterize the metabolism and disposition of l-738,167, and to investigate factors affecting its pharmacokinetic behaviors in dogs, one of the animal models used in pharmacological and toxicological studies. In vitro and in vivoexperiments indicated that l-738,167 was not metabolized to any appreciable extent in dogs. Biliary excretion was found to be the major route (∼75%) of drug elimination. Following 1 and 3 μg/kg iv doses, blood pharmacokinetics of l-738,167 were linear. Total blood clearance (CLB ) was much lower than hepatic blood flow, and the apparent volume of distribution at steady-state (Vdss,B ) was comparable with blood volume. Blood pharmacokinetics in the dose range of 3–250 μg/kg were dose-dependent; both CLB andVdss,B for l-738,167 increased markedly with increasing doses. However, the terminal half-life (t½) was dose-independent, with a mean value of ∼4 days. l-738,167 was found to bind negligibly to dog plasma proteins. Determinations of whole blood (WB), platelet-rich plasma, and platelet-poor plasma concentrations after several intravenous doses of [3H]l-738,167 revealed significant concentration-dependent binding of the compound to platelets. Kinetic analysis of the platelet binding indicated thatl-738,167 was bound to dog platelets with high affinity (apparent Kd ∼ 1 nM platelet-poor plasma concentration) and relatively low capacity (∼70 nM WB concentration). Findings are consistent with the binding kinetics ofl-738,167 to glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GP IIb/IIIa) receptor, supporting that GP IIb/IIIa was the primary binding component on the platelets. It was concluded that the dose-dependent pharmacokinetics ofl-738,167 were the consequence of the concentration-dependent drug-platelet binding. Due to this extensive platelet binding, l-738,167, when given in therapeutic doses or lower, resided primarily in the vascular compartment—the site of pharmacological action. At doses exceeding the receptor binding capacity, the excess amount or the unbound drug was eliminated rapidly. In all cases, the equally long t½ ofl-738,167 was also a consequence of the high-affinity binding to platelets, in good agreement with its prolonged pharmacodynamic profile.
Footnotes
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Send reprint requests to: Dr. Thomayant Prueksaritanont, Department of Drug Metabolism, WP 26A-2044, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA 19486.
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↵2 T. G. Hamill, B. C. Askew, G. D. Hartman, D. A. Claremon, C. J. McIntyre, and D. Burns, manuscript in preparation.
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↵3 J. J. Cook, G. R. Sitko, M. A. Holahan, M. T. Stranieri, B. C. Askew, D. A. Claremon, J. J. Baldwin, G. D. Hartman, R. J. Gould, and J. J. Lynch, manuscript in preparation.
- Abbreviations used are::
- GP IIb/IIIa
- glycoprotein IIb/IIIa
- RGD
- tripeptide sequence arginine-glycine-aspartic acid
- UDPGA
- UDP-glucuronic acid
- WB
- whole blood
- PRP
- platelet-rich plasma
- PPP
- platelet-poor plasma
- CLB
- total blood clearance
- AUC
- area under the blood concentration-time curve
- Vdss,B
- apparent volume of distribution at steady state
- t½
- terminal half-life
- Received September 6, 1996.
- Accepted November 25, 1996.
- The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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