PAMPA measurement

These general observations have been confirmed in PAMPA measurements in our laboratory, using the 2% DOPC-dodecane lipid. With very lipophilic molecules, glycocholic acid added to the donor solution slightly reduced permeabilities, taurocholic acid increased permeabilities, but SLS arrested membrane transport altogether in several cases (especially cationic, surface-active drugs such as CPZ). 

In PAMPA measurements each well is usually a one-point-in-time (single-timepoint) sample. By contrast, in the conventional multitimepoint Caco-2 assay, the acceptor solution is frequently replaced with fresh buffer solution so that the solution in contact with the membrane contains no more than a few percent of the total sample concentration at any time. This condition can be called a physically maintained sink. Under pseudo-steady state (when a practically linear solute concentration gradient is established in the membrane phase see Chapter 2), lipophilic molecules will distribute into the cell monolayer in accordance with the effective membrane-buffer partition coefficient, even when the acceptor solution contains nearly zero sample concentration (due to the physical sink). If the physical sink is maintained indefinitely, then eventually, all of the sample will be depleted from both the donor and membrane compartments, as the flux approaches zero (Chapter 2). In conventional Caco-2 data analysis, a very simple equation [Eq. (7.10) or (7.11)] is used to calculate the permeability coefficient. But when combinatorial (i.e., lipophilic) compounds are screened, this equation is often invalid, since a considerable portion of the molecules partitions into the membrane phase during the multitimepoint measurements. 

Figure 7.55 Intraplate errors in PAMPA measurement in 2% DOPC model.

TABLE 7.21 Approximate Intraplate Errors in PAMPA Measurement"... 

How Well Do PAMPA Measurements Predict the Human Jejunal Permeabilities ... 

The advantages of PAMPA over Caco-2 permeability measurements are higher throughput, lower cost, and shorter planning as there is no cell culture involved. PAMPA measurements help identify compounds that have high passive transcellular permeability and... 

Complementary use of PAMPA and Caco-2 cells for evaluation of absorption potential. PAMPA measurements are used to discard compounds with clear absorption problems whereas Caco-2 cells would be used to evaluate mechanisms of permeation or reasons for low permeation. It is highly unlikely that PAMPA measurements would be used to select compounds to be tested in vivo. 

The results obtained, outlined in Fig. 4.9, demonstrated that PAMPA measurements can successfully predict in vivo data, based on the comparisons between rat in situ, Caco-2, and PAMPA permeability assays. 

PAMPA is often used at various pH values in order to measure permeability pH profiles as the permeability of ionisable compounds depends heavily on the pH of the buffer. As the pH range of the intestinal tract varies between pH 6 and pH 8 this is the range of pH values that mostly is used. Kerns (2004) recommended to measure from pH 4 to pH 7,4 in order to predict both bases and acids correctly. Ruell (2003) used permeation pH profiles from pH 4 to pH 9 together with the pKa values of the compounds under investigation to establish the optimum pH value for a single pH PAMPA measurement. 

The evaluation of the apparent ionization constants (i) can indicate in partition experiments the extent to which a charged form of the drug partitions into the octanol or liposome bilayer domains, (ii) can indicate in solubility measurements, the presence of aggregates in saturated solutions and whether the aggregates are ionized or neutral and the extent to which salts of dmgs form, and (iii) can indicate in permeability measurements, whether the aqueous boundary layer adjacent to the membrane barrier, Umits the transport of drugs across artificial phospholipid membranes [parallel artificial membrane permeation assay (PAMPA)] or across monolayers of cultured cells [Caco-2, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK), etc.]. 

The above iso-pH measurements are based on the 2% DOPC/dodecane system (model 1.0 over pH 3-10 range). Another membrane model was also explored by us. Table 7.16 lists iso-pH effective permeability measurements using the soy lecithin (20% wt/vol in dodecane) membrane PAMPA (models 17.1, 24.1, and 25.1) The negative membrane charge, the multicomponent phospholipid mixture, and the acceptor sink condition (Table 7.1) result in different intrinsic permeabilities for the probe molecules. Figure 7.40 shows the relationship between the 2% DOPC and the 20% soy iso-pH PAMPA systems for ketoprofen. Since the intrinsic permeability of ketoprofen in the soy lecithin membrane is about 20 times greater than in DOPC membrane, the flat diffusion-limited transport region of the log Pe... 

It is difficult to prove that quaternary ammonium compounds can cross lipid bilayers using cell uptake experiments, since several mechanisms may be operative, and separating contributions from each may be very difficult [1]. It may be an advantage to use PAMPA to investigate transport properties of permanently ionized molecules. Of all the molecules whose permeabilities were measured under iso-pH conditions in 2% DOPC/dodecane, verapamil, propranolol, and especially quinine seem to partially violate the pH partition hypothesis, as shown in Figs. 7.47a-c. In Fig. 7.47c, the solid line with slope of +1 indicates the expected effective permeability if the pH partition hypothesis were strictly adhered to. As can be seen at pH 4... 

Avdeef et al. [556] measured the PAMPA permeabilities of a series of drug molecules and natural products using both dodecane- and (dodecane + 2%DOPC)-coated filters. It was proposed that a new H-bonding scale could be explored, based not on partition coefficients but on permeabilities. 

The in vitro measurements of permeability by the cultured-cell or PAMPA model underestimate true membrane permeability, because of the UWL, which ranges in thickness from 1500 to 2500 pm. The corresponding in vivo value is 30-100 pm in the GIT and nil in the BBB (Table 7.22). The consequence of this is that highly permeable molecules are (aqueous) diffusion limited in the in vitro assays, whereas the membrane-limited permeation is operative in the in vivo case. Correcting the in vitro data for the UWL effect is important for both GIT and BBB absorption modeling. 

In conclusion, the double-sink su m-P, PAMPA in vitro GIT assay seems to predict human absorption as well as in vivo human permeability measurements (see Figs. 7.66a,b) and in vitro Caco-2 permeability measurements (see Figs. 7.60 and 7.63), but at a lower cost and higher speed. 

Semiquantitative schemes, like the maximum absorbable dose (MAD) system described by Curatolo [53], can be made more predictive by applying solubilities measured by clinically-relevant protocols and PAMPA permeabilities. 

This book is written for the practicing pharmaceutical scientist involved in absorption-distribution-metabolism-excretion (ADME) measurements who needs to communicate with medicinal chemists persuasively, so that newly synthesized molecules will be more drug-like. ADME is all about a day in the life of a drug molecule (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion). Specifically, this book attempts to describe the state of the art in measurement of ionization constants (p Ka), oil-water partition coefficients (log PI log D), solubility, and permeability (artificial phospholipid membrane barriers). Permeability is covered in considerable detail, based on a newly developed methodology known as parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA). 

To reach such a site, a molecule must permeate through many road blocks formed by cell membranes. These are composed of phospholipid bilayers - oily barriers that greatly attenuate the passage of charged or highly polar molecules. Often, cultured cells, such as Caco-2 or Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells [1-4], are used for this purpose, but the tests are costly. Other types of permeability measurements based on artificial membranes have been considered, the aim being to improve efficiency and lowering costs. One such approach, PAMPA, has been described by Kansy et al. [5],... 

Faller and Wohnsland [18, 19] developed the PAMPA assay using phospholipid-free hexadecane, supported on 10 pm-thick polycarbonate filters, and were able to demonstrate interesting predictions. Their PAMPA method appeared to be a satisfactory substitute for obtaining alkane/water partition coefficients, which are usually very difficult to measure directly, due to the poor solubility of drug molecules in alkanes. Apparently, membrane retention was not measured. 

The studies of various compositions revealed that the 20% soy lecithin-dodecane membrane with 35 mM in the acceptor wells has substantially improved predictive value compared with the 2% DOPC model. Fine-tuning of the model components may be guided by the in vitro-in vivo (IV-IV) correlations, comparing the improved PAMPA model permeabilities to the human jejunal permeabilities measured by Winiwarter et al. [36] (Table 3.6). Table 3.7 lists the results of comparisons of various models. The best correlations were realized with the 20% soy lecithin-dodecane system, employing 35 mM SLS in the acceptor compartment, but a better... 

Passive diffusion through the lipid bilayer of the epithelium can be described using the partition coefficient between octanol/water (log P) and A log P (the difference between the partition into octanol/water and heptane/ethylene glycol or heptane/ octanol) [157, 158], The lipophilicity of the drug (log P) (or rather log D at a certain pH) can easily be either measured or calculated, and is therefore generally used as a predictor of drug permeability. Recently, a method using artificial membrane permeation (PAMPA) has also been found to describe the passive diffusion in a similar manner to the Caco-2 cell monolayers [159]. 

Wohnsland and Faller ([175] performed measurements using a thin (9-10 //in) supported, phospholipid-free hexadecane layer. To validate their model, they used 32 well-characterized chemically diverse compounds. The permeability values obtained with their model could be correlated with known human absorption values if the maximum permeability obtained at different pH was taken into account. However, several disadvantages are related to this method. For hydrophilic drugs, hexadecane by itself has an increased barrier function in comparison with membranes. In addition, the hexadecane layers are not very stable, which makes this assay difficult to apply as a routine screening method. The advantage of this PAMPA setup is that it appears to be a satisfactory substitute for obtaining alkane-water partition coefficients, which are usually very difficult to measure directly, due to the poor solubility of drug molecules in alkanes. 

Solubility and permeability were measured by a high throughput solubility assay and parallel artificial membrane permeation assay (PAMPA), respectively [56], The assays categorized 14 out of 18 drugs based on the BCS consistent with their known solubility and permeability characteristics [56],... 

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