RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Absolute Difference of Hepatobiliary Transporter Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein (MRP2/Mrp2) in Liver Tissues and Isolated Hepatocytes from Rat, Dog, Monkey, and Human
JF Drug Metabolism and Disposition
JO Drug Metab Dispos
FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
SP 66
OP 73
DO 10.1124/dmd.108.023234
VO 37
IS 1
A1 Na Li
A1 Yiqun Zhang
A1 Fengmei Hua
A1 Yurong Lai
YR 2009
UL http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/37/1/66.abstract
AB We previously reported that hepatobiliary transporter multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP2/Mrp2) is considered to be the major cause of the interspecies differences detected by efflux of fluorescent substrates in isolated hepatocytes. In the present study, the interspecies differences of MRP2/Mrp2 were first evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. The mRNA levels were able to distinguish the difference among species with a rank order comparable with the corresponding activities observed, whereas the extents of the differences remained unknown. The cross-reactions of MRP2/Mrp2 protein of different species with anti-human MRP2 polyclonal antibody were found by Western blotting. However, because of the unknown binding affinity of antibody to MRP2/Mrp2 protein across species and lack of purified MRP2/Mrp2 proteins for calibration, the immunoblotting assay was excluded from the absolute quantification of MRP2/Mrp2 protein for multiple species. By using our newly developed liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry quantification method, we were able to measure the absolute amount of MRP2/Mrp2 in liver tissues and isolated hepatocytes across species. Freshly isolated hepatocytes conserved MRP2/Mrp2 protein levels that are comparable with those in the liver tissues. The amount of Mrp2 in rat liver was approximately 10-fold higher than that in other species. Moreover, a significant loss of Mrp2 protein in the membrane fraction of rat cryopreserved hepatocytes was observed. Thus, the absolute differences of MRP2/Mrp2 levels in various species were determined, for the first time, by direct quantification. The results could potentially fill the translational gaps of in vitro/in vivo or preclinical species to human extrapolation of hepatobiliary elimination mediated by MRP2/Mrp2. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics