Distribution of pirarubicin in human blood

We investigated the distribution and stability of pirarubicin in human blood obtained from 12 healthy volunteers. The distribution of pirarubicin into blood cells showed marked temperature- and concentration-dependencies and the Arrhenius plot for pirarubicin uptake in blood was biphasic. Therefore, pirarubicin appears to be taken up into blood cells by a carrier-mediated system. Pirarubicin was mainly enzymatically metabolized to pirarubicinol in blood cells, but pirarubicin was not metabolized into doxorubicin in either blood or plasma. On the other hand, in plasma, pirarubicin was degraded to unknown inactive compounds instead of pirarubicinol. It is therefore suggested that blood cells serve to protect against the degradation of pirarubicin into inactive compounds in blood. Accordingly, when the monitoring of pirarubicin and its active metabolites is carried out in patients, both blood and plasma must be frozen immediately after blood collection.