Pharmacokinetics of the multidrug-resistance-converting drug dexniguldipine and its pyridine metabolite M-1 in the plasma,tumor, and renal tissue of tumor-bearing Wag / Rij rats

The pharmacokinetics of oral dexniguldipine, a new multidrug-resistance-modifying agent under clinical evaluation, and its pyridine metabolite M-1 were determined in plasma, tumor, and renal tissue in Wag/Rij rats bearing a multidrug-resistant CC531 colon adenocarcinoma tumor under the renal capsule. The pharmacokinetics were studied in four experiments. After a single administration of dexniguldipine (30 mg/kg), tumors and kidneys were collected after 5 (experiment 1), 24 (experiment 2), and 48 h (experiment 3). In the fourth experiment, dexniguldipine was given once daily for 3 consecutive days at a dose of 30 mg/kg. In all experiments, plasma samples were collected at regular intervals. The concentrations of dexniguldipine and M-1 could be determined in plasma in most of the rats at up to 32 h after drug administration. The area under the curve (AUC) of dexniguldipine and M-1 varied by a factor of 2–6 in the four experiments. High tumor-tissue concentrations of dexniguldipine were observed. The concentrations were highest in the multiple-dose experiment (2014 ± 1005 ng/g tissue). High degrees of correlation (>0.8) were established between the concen-trations of dexniguldipine measured in plasma and tumor as well as renal tissue. Overall, tumor-tissue concentrations of M-1 comprised one-third of the dexniguldipine concentrations measured. Received: 7 January 1997 / Accepted: 1 June 1997