Active Uptake of Oxycodone at Both the Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier and The Blood-Brain Barrier without Sex...

Oxycodone active uptake across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is associated with the putative proton-coupled organic cation (H⁺/OC) antiporter system. Yet, the activity of this system at the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) is not fully understood. Additionally, sex differences in systemic pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of oxycodone has been reported, but whether the previous observations involve sex differences in the function of the H⁺/OC antiporter system remain unknown. The objective of this study was, therefore, to investigate the extent of oxycodone transport across the BBB and the BCSFB in female and male Sprague-Dawley rats using microdialysis.

Microdialysis probes were implanted in the blood and two of the following brain locations: striatum and lateral ventricle or cisterna magna. Oxycodone was administered as an intravenous infusion, and dialysate, blood and brain were collected. Unbound partition coefficients (K_p,uu) were calculated to understand the extent of oxycodone transport across the blood-brain barriers. Non-compartmental analysis was conducted using Phoenix 64 WinNonlin. GraphPad Prism version 9.0.0 was used to perform t-tests, one-way and two-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's or Šídák's multiple comparison tests. Differences were considered significant at p < 0.05.

The extent of transport at the BBB measured in striatum was 4.44 ± 1.02 (K_p,uu,STR), in the lateral ventricle 3.41 ± 0.74 (K_p,uu,LV) and in cisterna magna 2.68 ± 1.01 (K_p,uu,CM). These K_p,uu values indicate that the extent of oxycodone transport is significantly lower at the BCSFB compared with that at the BBB, but still confirm the presence of active uptake at both blood-brain interfaces. No significant sex differences were observed in neither the extent of oxycodone delivery to the brain, nor in the systemic pharmacokinetics of oxycodone.

The findings clearly show that active uptake is present at both the BCSFB and the BBB. Despite some underestimation of the extent of oxycodone delivery to the brain, CSF may be an acceptable surrogate of brain ISF for oxycodone, and potentially also other drugs actively transported into the brain via the H⁺/OC antiporter system.