Animal studies pharmacokinetics

Animal studies Pharmacokinetics of hyperforin after administration of an ethanolic SJW extract (WS 5572, Dr. Willmar Schwabe, Karlsruhe, Germany) to rats were investigated by Biber et al. (72). Maximum plasma levels of approximately 370ng/mL (approximately 690 nM) were reached after three hours. Estimated half-life and clearance values were six hours and 70mL/min/kg, respectively. 

Animal studies Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of aescin was studied after oral and i.v. administration of tritiated aescin (108,109). About 66% and 33% of the dose was excreted in bile and urine, respectively, after i.v. administration. The oral bioavailability of aescin was about 12.5%. Percutaneous absorption of aescin was studied in mice and rats (110). The amounts of aescin in muscle were greater than in other organs. These results indicate that percutaneous administration of aescin could be beneficial. 

In-vitro models can provide preliminary insights into some pharmacodynamic aspects. For example, cultured Caco 2 cell lines (derived from a human colorectal carcinoma) may be used to simulate intestinal absorption behaviour, while cultured hepatic cell lines are available for metabolic studies. However, a comprehensive understanding of the pharmacokinetic effects vfill require the use of in-vivo animal studies, where the drug levels in various tissues can be measured after different dosages and time intervals. Radioactively labelled drugs (carbon-14) may be used to facilitate detection. Animal model studies of human biopharmaceutical products may be compromised by immune responses that would not be expected when actually treating human subjects. 

The above example illustrates the inherent problems that can arise in the use of standardised protocols for assessing chemicals naturally occurring in the food chain. Had work on comparative metabolism and pharmacokinetics been undertaken before any animal bioassay work, it could have given more useful information. The extrapolation of effects obtained in high-dose animal studies to a large number of people exposed to a low dose is not the most effective use of resources. Nor are such experiments consistent with biological reality. There are few chemicals that would not cause illness or death if the daily intake was increased some 100-1000 fold as is the situation in many... 

Children s Susceptibility. No studies were located in which comparisons were made between the sensitivity of children and adults to the toxicity of americium. Animal studies indicate that juvenile dogs are less susceptible than adults to americium-induced bone cancer (Lloyd et al. 1999). No direct evidence was located to indicate that the pharmacokinetics of americium in children may be different from that in adults. Based on dosimetric considerations related to differences in the parameters of available models, as well as studies in animals, it seems likely that children may be more susceptible to americium toxicity than are adults by virtue of age-related differences in pharmacokinetics. Absorption of ingested americium may be as much as 200 times greater in neonatal animals than in adults. (Bomford and Harrison 1986 David and Harrison 1984 Sullivan et al. 1985). 

Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion. There are no data available on the absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in humans. Limited animal data suggest that diisopropyl methylphosphonate is absorbed following oral and dermal exposure. Fat tissues do not appear to concentrate diisopropyl methylphosphonate or its metabolites to any significant extent. Nearly complete metabolism of diisopropyl methylphosphonate can be inferred based on the identification and quantification of its urinary metabolites however, at high doses the metabolism of diisopropyl methylphosphonate appears to be saturated. Animal studies have indicated that the urine is the principal excretory route for removal of diisopropyl methylphosphonate after oral and dermal administration. Because in most of the animal toxicity studies administration of diisopropyl methylphosphonate is in food, a pharmacokinetic study with the compound in food would be especially useful. It could help determine if the metabolism of diisopropyl methylphosphonate becomes saturated when given in the diet and if the levels of saturation are similar to those that result in significant adverse effects. 

If initial clinical trials reveal differences in human versus animal model pharmacokinetic profiles, additional pharmacokinetic studies may be necessary using primates. 

Automated online SPE systems have been applied to various phases of drug discovery. McLoughlin et al. (1997) utilized the Prospekt system in pharmacokinetic animal studies for rapid drug candidate screening. Up to 10 compounds were simultaneously monitored. The lower limits of detection were... 

Data adequacy The key study was well designed and conducted and documented a lack of effects on heart and lung parameters as well as clinical chemistry. Pharmacokinetic data were also collected. The compound was without adverse effects when tested as a component of metered-dose inhalers on patients with COPD. Animal studies covered acute, subchronic, and chronic exposure durations and addressed systemic toxicity as well as neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental effects, cardiac sensitization, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. The values are supported by a study with rats in which no effects were observed during a 4-h exposure to 81,000 ppm. Adjustment of the 81,000 ppm concentration by an interspecies and intraspecies uncertainty factors of 3 each, for a total of 10, results in essentially the same value (8,100 ppm) as that from the human study. ... 

The data base for HCFC-141b is extensive and contains studies with human subjects as well as several mammalian species. The study with human subjects was well conducted and addressed clinical symptoms, respiratory effects, cardiotoxicity, hematology and clinical chemistry effects, and pharmacokinetics. The study with humans established a no-effect level (AEGL-1) that may be conservative, because a lowest-observed-effect level was not attained. The AEGL-1 of 1,000 ppm is supported by the animal data, which show an absence of effects at concentrations that are higher by a factor of 10. Animal studies addressed both acute and chronic exposure durations as well as neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and cardiac sensitiza... 

It may be useful, however, to consider limited animal studies to examine the pharmacokinetics and duration of action even of a well-known material made by a new route, unless physiochemical analyses show that to be pointless. 

In single-dose pharmacokinetic studies of oral absorption, the primary concerns are with the extent of absorption and peak plasma or target tissue concentrations of the test substance. If the test vehicle affects gastric emptying, it may be necessary to use both fasted and nonfasted animals for pharmacokinetic studies. 

Repeated dose chronic toxicity studies are performed on two species of animals a rodent and nonrodent. The aim is to evaluate the longer-term effects of the drug in animals. Plasma drug concentrations are measured and pharmacokinetics analyses are performed. Vital functions are studied for cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. Animals are retained at the end of the study to check toxicity recovery. Table 5.2 shows the duration of the animal studies, which depends on the duration of the intended human clinical trial. Appendix 6 summarizes the information to be submitted to regulatory authorities. 

This information may affect selection criteria for the study population and the choice of tests in addition to routine safety monitoring, and will certainly determine the starting dose, range of doses, maximum exposure and dose increments to be studied. Pharmacokinetics in man may be quite different from those in animal species so that plasma and, if possible, tissue concentrations are generally more important than dose. One exception to this may be hepatotox-icity resulting from exposure of the liver to portal blood drug concentrations, when the oral dose administered to the animals may be more relevant than the systemic plasma concentrations, which reflect first-pass metabolism as well as absorption. 

---