Concomitant use of mirtazapine and phenytoin: a drug-drug interaction study in healthy male subjects

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to assess the effect of mirtazapine on steady-state pharmacokinetics of phenytoin and vice versa and to assess tolerability and safety of the combined use of mirtazapine and phenytoin. METHODS: This was an open-label, randomised, parallel-groups, single-centre, multiple-dose pharmacokinetic study. Seventeen healthy, male subjects completed either treatment A [nine subjects: daily 200 mg phenytoin for 17 days plus mirtazapine (15 mg for 2 days continuing with 30 mg for 5 days) from day 11 to day 17] or treatment B [eight subjects: mirtazapine, daily 15 mg for 2 days continuing with 30 mg for 15 days plus phenytoin 200 mg from day 8 to day 17]. Serial blood samples were taken for kinetic profiling on the 10th and 17th days of treatment A and on the 7th and 17th days of treatment B. Induction of CYP 3A by phenytoin was evaluated by measuring the ratio of 6 beta-hydroxycortisol over cortisol on the 1st, 7th and 17th days of treatment B. RESULTS: Co-administration of mirtazapine had no effect on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of phenytoin, i.e. the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC)(0-24) and peak plasma concentration (C(max)) remained unchanged. The addition of phenytoin to an existing daily administration of mirtazapine resulted in a mean (+/-SD) decrease of the AUC(0-24) from 576+/-104 ng h/ml to 305+/-81.6 ng h/ml and a mean decrease of C(max) from 69.7+/-17.5 ng/ml to 46.9+/-10.9 ng/ml. Induction of CYP 3A by phenytoin is confirmed by the significantly ( P=0.001) increased 6beta-hydroxycortisol/cortisol ratio from 1.74+/-1.00 to 2.74+/-1.64. CONCLUSION: Co-administration of mirtazapine did not alter the steady-state pharmacokinetics of phenytoin. The addition of phenytoin to an existing daily administration of mirtazapine results in a decrease of the plasma concentrations of mirtazapine by 46% on average, most likely due to induction of CYP 3A3/4.     

Solvent-free fabrication of micro-porous polyurethane amide and polyurethane-urea scaffolds for repair and replacement of the knee-joint meniscus

New porous polyurethane urea and polyurethane amide scaffolds for meniscal reconstruction have been developed in a solvent-free process. As soft segments, copolymers of 50/50 L-lactide/epsilon-caprolactone have been used. After terminating the soft segment with diisocyanates, chain extension was performed with adipic acid and water. Reaction between the isocyanate groups and adipic acid or water provides carbon dioxide and results in a porous polymer. Extra hydroxyl-terminated prepolymer was added in order to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide formed in the foaming reaction. Furthermore, salt crystals ranging in size from 150 to 355 microm were added in order to induce macroporosity. The pore size was regulated by addition of surfactant and by the use of ultrasonic waves. The resulting porous polymer scaffolds exhibit good mechanical properties like a high-compression modulus of 150 kPa. Chain extension with adipic acid results in better mechanical properties due to better defined hard segments. This results from the lower nucleophilicity of carboxylic acids compared to water and alcohols. By adjusting the reaction conditions, materials in which macropores are interconnected by micropores can be obtained. On degradation only non-toxic products will be released; importantly, the materials were obtained by a simple, reproducible and solvent-free procedure.