Effect of Red Clover on CYP Expression: An Investigation of Herb-Drug Interaction at Molecular Level.

Hormone replacement therapy and selective estrogen receptor modulator are the most common therapy for women going through menopause. These therapies though popular fail to relieve withdrawal symptoms such as hot flashes, fatigue, leg cramps and nausea. This scenario necessitates to herbal preparations as alternative which may lead to simultaneous intake of herbal preparations, containing flavonoids, as well as Selective estrogen receptor modulator hence creating a phenomenon of herb drug interaction. Here we investigate the effect of red clover on steady state mRNA levels of rat cytochrome P 450 enzymes. Further, red clover's effect on cytochrome P 450's expression has been investigated when co-administered with tamoxifen and raloxifene. Exposure to red clover resulted in significant down regulation of all the cytochrome P 450 isoform mRNA except cytochrome P 450 2C13 and cytochrome P 450 3A2. When red clover is given in combination with tamoxifen or raloxifene altered level of cytochrome P 450 enzyme mRNA is observed. Present results suggest that herbal medical preparations such red clover has potential for herb drug interaction.

Simultaneous determination of nine model compounds in permeability samples using RP-HPLC: application to prove the cassette administration principle in single pass intestinal perfusion study in rats.

A simple, sensitive and specific reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method for simultaneous determination of atenolol, paracetamol, hydrochlorothiazide, caffeine, cephalexin, metoprolol, propranolol, ketoprofen along with phenol red (a non-absorbable compound) in samples obtained from intestinal in situ single-pass perfusion studies, was developed and validated. Chromatography was carried out on RP18 column with mobile phase comprising of 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 2.5) and methanol in gradient mode. The calibration curves were linear for all nine permeability model compounds (r² > 0.999) across the concentration range of 1.25-40 µg/ml. The coefficient of variation for intra and inter-day assay precision was between 0.04 and 3.08% and the accuracy was between 98.39 and 109.45%. Stability studies were carried out at different storage conditions and all the analytes were found to be stable. The method was successfully applied for analysing the permeability samples obtained from in situ single pass perfusion studies. The effective permeability (P(eff)) values obtained upon cassette administration were in close proximity to the permeability values obtained upon single administration of model compounds. In conclusion, the developed RP-HPLC method can be used for high throughput cassette validation of rat in situ perfusion model for intestinal permeability assessment.

Reduced bioavailability of tamoxifen and its metabolite 4-hydroxytamoxifen after oral administration with biochanin A (an isoflavone) in rats.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of biochanin A (BCA) on the pharmacokinetics of tamoxifen, a substrate of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and cytochrome 3A (CYP3A), in female rats. The tamoxifen was administered orally (10 mg/kg) without or with oral BCA (100 mg/kg) in female rats. As BCA is an inhibitor of CYP 3A and P-gp it was expected to increase the bioavailability of tamoxifen, a known substrate of CYP3A4/Pgp. Surprisingly, compared with the control group (treated with tamoxifen alone), BCA pretreated animals showed significantly (p < 0.05) decreased area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to time infinity (AUC(0-∞)) and peak tamoxifen concentrations (C(max)). Consequently, the relative bioavailability (RB%) of tamoxifen co-administered with BCA was remarkably decreased compared with the control group. The AUC(0-∞) and C(max) of 4-hydroxytamoxifen in BCA pretreated rats were also significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those from the control group. However, there were no apparent changes in the metabolite ratio (MR; AUC(0-∞) of 4-hydroxytamoxifen to tamoxifen) by co-administration of BCA. If the results of this study are further confirmed by clinical trials, tamoxifen dosages should be adjusted to avoid potential drug interaction when tamoxifen is used clinically in combination with BCA and BCA-containing dietary supplements.