An in vitro model for assessing drug availability from lipophilic vehicles

An apparatus for studying the rate of release of a solute from a water-immiscible solvent into an acidic, aqueous liquid, followed by permeation through a simulated lipid membrane, is described. The object was to imitate the absorption of a drug after oral administration in a soft gelatin capsule. Rate constants of transfer were determined for a series of substituted benzoic acids, using octanol and isopropyl myristate as solvents. The quantity of solute in the acidic phase did not correlate with the solvent-water distribution coefficient, but was linearly related to the rate constant for transfer from solvent to water. A dynamic system was therefore postulated, rather than one in which the two phases are in equilibrium. In vivo studies on two of the solutes confirmed the in vitro observations. No simple relationship could be derived between blood concentrations and any in vitro parameter, but the rank order of magnitude of the blood concentrations fitted the postulated dynamic mechanism.