Stereoselective hepatic disposition of model diastereomeric acyl glucuronides

Numerous studies have previously been conducted with the impulse-response isolated perfused rat liver (IR-IPRL) to establish the role of both physiological and physicochemical factors in determining solutes' pattern of hepatic disposition, however the impact of optical isomerism on hepatic disposition has hardly been studied using this methodology. In this study, the IR-IPRL was used to assess the extent of stereoselectivity exhibited by the kinetic processes involved in the hepatic disposition of the diastereomeric acyl glucuronides of (R)- and (S)-2-phenylpropionic acid (i.e. (R)- and (S)-PPAG). Moment and model-dependent (distributed model and axial dispersion model) analyses were conducted of the hepatic outflow profiles generated upon bolus administration of (R)-(14)C-PPAG or (S)-(14)C-PPAG and 3H-Sucrose (used as a marker of the hepatic vascular space) into the portal inflow of isolated perfused livers of male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 4). Significant differences between (R)- and (S)-PPAG were apparent in the pharmacokinetic parameters defining the total hepatic disposition of the two diastereomers, the most marked being the hepatic availabilities, where the value for (S)-PPAG (0.721 +/- 0.059) was significantly lower than that of (R)-PPAG (0.909 +/- 0.042). The distributed and axial dispersion model analyses suggested that the more extensive hepatic extraction of (S)-PPAG was (at least in part) due to the higher sinusoidal membrane permeability-surface area product (PS UPT) of the diastereomer, and this has been considered in light of the emerging evidence regarding the role of hepatocellular membrane transport mechanisms. Furthermore, given the potential immunogenicity of acyl glucuronides (through covalent binding to plasma and intracellular proteins), the results of this study suggest that diastereomeric glucuronides may exhibit differing toxicity due to differences in their access to intracellular proteins.