The history, chemistry and pharmacokinetics of Sanguinaria extract.

Sanguinaria extract is a mixture of benzophenanthridine alkaloids derived from Sanguinaria canadensis L. (bloodroot). This mixture of alkaloids has a long history of use in tinctures and expectorants in pharmaceutical products. The purity of Sanguinaria extract is well defined. The chemistry and biochemistry of these alkaloids, including the dynamic equilibrium between acid and base forms, and pharmacokinetics of Sanguinaria extract shall be presented when this extract is incorporated into a dentifrice or oral rinse formulation.

Rat hepatomas: chemotherapy with lycurim and pyrazofurin.

Hepatoma 8999 was sensitive to Lycurim [1,4-di-(methylsulfonyloxy-ethylamino)-1,4-dideoxy-ms-erythritol] with a mean lethal dose (LD50) of 8.1 X 10(-8) M for a 6-hour treatment in vitro. The drug dose lethal to 10% of the rats with Lycurim (10 mg/kg) injected ip 12 times into hepatoma 8999-bearing BUF rats at 10-day intervals provided a mean increase in life-span (ILS) of 156%. The more rapidly growing, less differentiated hepatoma 3924A was tenfold less sensitive to Lycurim in vitro, and three treatments in vivo (10 mg/kg given every 8 days) gave an ILS of only 18% in ACI/N rats. Because hepatoma 8999 had a high adenosine kinase activity, the effect of Pyrazofurin (PF; 3-beta-D-ribofuranosyl-4-hydroxypyrazole-5-carboxamide) was examined in vitro: The LD50 was 8.5 X 10(-8) M in a 6-hour exposure. In hepatoma 3924A, with a fifteenfold lower adenosine kinase, the LD50 was 22-fold higher. Three treatments with PF (4 mg/kg given every 2 days) in hepatoma 8999 caused an 18% ILS and no host toxicity, but in hepatoma 3924A no significant ILS was observed. Lycurim combined with PF (0.05 microM each) in hepatoma 8999 cells in vitro provided synergistic kill, but Lycurim and PF (0.3 and 1 microM, respectively) in hepatoma 3924A cells yielded summation. When 10 rats with hepatoma 8999 were treated 15 times with the optimal dose of Lycurim (7.5 mg/kg every 10 1/2 days), 1-year survivors numbered 7. Alternate doses of Lycurim (7.5 mg/kg) and PF (3 mg/kg) at 5-day intervals for 4 months to 10 rats gave an ILS of 152% with eight 1-year survivors and no host toxicity.

Biochemical approaches to enhancement of antitumor drug selectivity: selective protection of cells from 6-thioguanine and 6-mercaptopurine by adenosine.

The cytotoxicity of 6-thioguanine and 6-mercaptopurine to cultured lymphoblasts and fibroblasts was strongly antagonized by pretreatment of the cells with 100 microM adenosine. Administration of adenosine 2 hours after the antipurine agent did not cause antagonism. In two rat hepatoma cell lines, adenosine pretreatment did not protect cells from the antipurines. Treatment of lymphoblasts or fibroblasts with 100 microM adenosine gave increases up to 150% in cellular ATP and ADP and decreases greater than 80% in UTP and UDP. In the hepatoma lines, adenine nucleotides did not increase by greater than 45%, and uridine nucleotides did not decrease by greater than 40% following adenosine treatment. The selective protection of the normal cells from 6-thioguanine and 6-mercaptopurine was probably the consequence of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) depletion, since adenosine pretreatment decreased PRPP pools by greater than 90% in the normal cells but by only 30% in the malignant hepatoma cells. In the absence of PRPP the antipurines would not be metabolically activated. The selectivity of the adenosine and antipurine combinations was probably attributable to the low activity of adenosine kinase and high activities of adenosine deaminase and PRPP synthetase characteristic of malignant hepatomas.