Objective: To study the stereoselective glucuronidation of carvedilol (CARV) by three Chinese liver microsomes. Methods: The metabolites of CARV were identified by a hydrolysis reaction with β-glucuronidase and HPLC-MS/MS. The enzyme kinetics for CARV enantiomers glucuronidation was determined by a reversed phase-high pressure liquid chromatogra-phy (RP-HPLC) assay using (S)-propafenone as internal standard after precolumn derivatization with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosylisothiocyanate. Results: Two CARV glucuronides were found in three Chinese liver microsomes incubated with CARV. The non-linear regression analysis showed that the values of Km and Vmax for (S)-CARV and (R)-CARV enantiomers were (118±44) μmol/L, (2 500±833) pmol/(min·mg protein) and (24±7) μmol/L, (953±399) pmol/(min·mg protein), respectively. Conclusion: These results suggested that there was a significant (P<0.05) stereoselective glucuronidation of CARV enantiomers in three Chinese liver microsomes, which might partly explain the enantioselective pharmacokinetics of CARV.
YOU Lin-ya, YU Chun-na, XIE Sheng-gu, CHEN Shu-qing, ZENG Su (Department of Drug Metabolism and Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)
The chiral nature of biological systems enables their stereoselective interaction with chiral compounds. It has been well documented that the enantiomers ofa chiral drug may show differences in drug disposition especially in metabolic behavior. As a result, it is of vital importance to separate the enantiomers of a chiral drug in metabolic studies. This paper discusses enantioselective methods （include high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry） that applied in chiral drug metabolism, using most recent examples where possible.
The enantioselective assay for S(+)- and R(-)-propafenone (PPF) in human urine that developed in this work involves extraction of propafenone from human urine and using S(+)-propafenone as internal standard, chiral derivatization with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-b-D-glucopranosyl isothiocyanate, and quantitation by an RP-HPLC system with UV detection (l=220 nm). A baseline separation of propafenone enantiomers was achieved on a 5-mm reverse phase ODS column, with a mixture of methanol:water:glacial acetic acid (25:12:0.02,v/v) as mobile phase. There was good linear relationship from 24.9 ng/ml to 1875.0 ng/ml for both of enantiomers. The regression equations of the standard curves based on CS-PPF (or CR-PPF ) versus ratio of AS-PPF/AS (or AR-PPF/AS ) were y=0.0032x-0.081, (r=0.999) for S-PPF and y=0.0033x+0.0039, (r=0.998) for R-PPF, respectively. The method抯 limit of detection was 12.5 ng/ml for both enantiomers, and the method抯 limit of quantitation was 28.20.52 ng/ml for S-PPF, 30.40.53 ng/ml for R-PPF (RSD<8%, n=5). The analytical method yielded average recovery of 98.9% and 100.4% for S-PPF and R-PPF, respectively. The relative standard deviation was no more than 6.11% and 6.22% for S-PPF and R-PPF, respectively. The method enabled study of metabolism of S(+)- and R(-)-propafenone in human urine. The results from 7 volunteers administered 150 mg racemic propafenone indicated that propafenone enantiomers undergo stereoselective metabolism and that in the human body, S(+)-propafenone is metabolized more extensively than R(-)- propafenone.
