ABSTRACT
Valproic acid (VPA) has been used to treat epileptic seizures for decades, but it may also possess therapeutic potential in other nervous system diseases. However, VPA is extensively bound to plasma proteins, asymmetrically transported across the blood-brain barrier and metabolized to toxic species in the liver, which all contribute to its severe off-target adverse effects and possible drug-drug interactions. In this study, we evaluated seven amino acid prodrugs of VPA that were targeted to utilize L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1), if they could alter the brain uptake mechanism and systemic pharmacokinetics of VPA. All prodrugs had affinity for LAT1 studied as competitive inhibition of [14C]-L-leucine in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell line. However, since the ester prodrugs were unstable they were not studied further, instead the corresponding amide prodrugs were used to evaluate their systemic pharmacokinetics in rats and the uptake mechanism via LAT1 into the rat brain. All amide prodrugs were bound to a lesser extent to plasma proteins than VPA and this being independent of the prodrug concentration. Amide prodrugs were also delivered into the brain after intravenous bolus injection. One of the prodrug showed greater brain uptake and high selectivity for LAT1 and it was able to release VPA slowly within the brain. Therefore, it was concluded that the VPA brain concentrations can be stabilized as well as the problematic pharmacokinetic profile can be altered by a LAT1-selective prodrug.
Subject(s)
Amino Acids/metabolism , Brain/drug effects , Valproic Acid/pharmacokinetics , Amino Acids/administration & dosage , Animals , Biological Transport/drug effects , Blood-Brain Barrier/metabolism , Brain/metabolism , Humans , Injections, Intravenous , Prodrugs/pharmacokinetics , Prodrugs/pharmacology , Rats , Valproic Acid/administration & dosage , Valproic Acid/pharmacologyABSTRACT
In this study, three sulfonamide prodrugs of metformin were designed and synthesized. The bioconversion of the sulfonamide prodrugs by glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was evaluated in rat and human liver S9 fractions as well as with recombinant human GST forms. One of the prodrugs (3) was bioactivated by GST and released metformin in a quantitative manner, whereas the two others were enzymatically stable. Prodrug 3 had a much higher logD value relative to metformin and it was reasonably stable in both acidic buffer and rat small intestine homogenate, which indicates that this prodrug has the potential to increase the oral absorption of metformin.
