Peripheral Administration of a Long-Acting Peptide Oxytocin Receptor Agonist Inhibits Fear-Induced Freezing.

Oxytocin (OT) modulates the expression of social and emotional behaviors and consequently has been proposed as a pharmacologic treatment of psychiatric diseases, including autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia; however, endogenous OT has a short half-life in plasma and poor permeability across the blood-brain barrier. Recent efforts have focused on the development of novel drug delivery methods to enhance brain penetration, but few efforts have aimed at improving its half-life. To explore the behavioral efficacy of an OT analog with enhanced plasma stability, we developed PF-06655075 (PF1), a novel non-brain-penetrant OT receptor agonist with increased selectivity for the OT receptor and significantly increased pharmacokinetic stability. PF-06478939 was generated with only increased stability to disambiguate changes to selectivity versus stability. The efficacy of these compounds in evoking behavioral effects was tested in a conditioned fear paradigm. Both central and peripheral administration of PF1 inhibited freezing in response to a conditioned fear stimulus. Peripheral administration of PF1 resulted in a sustained level of plasma concentrations for greater than 20 hours but no detectable accumulation in brain tissue, suggesting that plasma or cerebrospinal fluid exposure was sufficient to evoke behavioral effects. Behavioral efficacy of peripherally administered OT receptor agonists on conditioned fear response opens the door to potential peripheral mechanisms in other behavioral paradigms, whether they are mediated by direct peripheral activation or feed-forward responses. Compound PF1 is freely available as a tool compound to further explore the role of peripheral OT in behavioral response.

Investigation of the influence of modulation of P-glycoprotein by a multiple dosing regimen of tamoxifen on the pharmacokinetics and toxicodynamics of doxorubicin.

PURPOSE: The in vivo effect of modulators of P-glycoprotein (Pgp) on organ accumulation of substrates of Pgp has not been fully investigated. We investigated the influence of a Pgp modulator (tamoxifen, TAM) on the pharmacokinetics and toxicodynamics of a Pgp substrate (doxorubicin, DOX) in rats. METHODS: TAM was administered daily for 11 days before the administration of DOX in male Sprague-Dawley rats, with all doses being clinically relevant. The experimental design of the project consisted of two different protocols. One was to investigate the effect of DOX on the time course of Pgp-ATPase activity, sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) -ATPase (SERCA) activity, and DOX concentration in the heart, liver, and kidneys of TAM-pretreated animals; the other protocol was to study the effect of TAM pretreatment on the disposition of DOX in the body by investigating its time course in plasma, urine and bile. RESULTS: The simultaneous curve fitting of plasma data with urine and bile data with the help of the related pharmacokinetic equations provided the calculated parameters and constants. The first-order rate constants between the central and the myocardial compartments (k(1H) and k(H1)) were decreased in the TAM-treated group. The treatment also significantly reduced the k(1H)/k(H1) ratio in comparison to that of the control group. The first-order biliary elimination rate constant (k(b)) was significantly decreased (29%) in the TAM-treated group. The reduction was estimated in comparison with that of the control group. This reduction could be attributed to the inhibitory effect of TAM on Pgp located on biliary canicular membranes. The initial reduction of Pgp activity in TAM-treated group was at 60% of the basal level. The activity declined and reached a plateau at 20% of the basal activity after 6 h and remained at that level for 24 h. The area under the curves of Pgp-ATPase activity time (AUC(Activity 0-24)) following DOX administration in TAM-treated group was significantly lower than that of the control group, indicating an overall inhibitory effect of TAM on Pgp-ATPase activity under the protocol of this study. The area under the curves of the SERCA activity-time curve following DOX administration in TAM-treated group demonstrated a 15% reduction in AUC(Activity 0-24) in comparison with that of the control group, an indication of increased toxicity. The amount of myocardial Pgp in the 24-h period following DOX administration was comparable to the control group and showed no significant deviation from the basal levels of the protein. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of TAM on DOX accumulation in the myocardial tissue and the increase in cardiotoxicity can be related to the net inhibitory effect of TAM on the efflux activity of Pgp in the heart. The results of the present study supported the hypothesis of the project that multiple regimen pretreatment with Pgp modulator TAM increases the DOX accumulation in the heart and promotes DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.

Concentration dependency of modulatory effect of amlodipine on P-glycoprotein efflux activity of doxorubicin--a comparison with tamoxifen.

Modulators of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) can enhance or limit the permeability of a number of therapeutic agents that are considered substrates of this efflux pump protein. The modulatory effect of amlodipine (4-dihydropyridine calcium antagonist) on P-gp efflux activity has not been fully elucidated. We have studied the concentration dependency of its modulatory effect and compared it qualitatively with tamoxifen (a non-esteroid anti-estrogen). The investigation was conducted on transmembrane efflux of doxorubicin at a fixed concentration of 5 microM across a Caco-2 monolayer in the presence of various concentrations of amlodipine or tamoxifen. The maximum flux of doxorubicin from basolateral to apical (ba) occurred at 4.5 microM amlodipine and at 0.02 microM tamoxifen. At higher concentrations, the apical to basolateral (ab) flux and the net flux of doxorubicin (ba - ab) declined steadily in a concentration-dependent manner. We analysed the observed net flux data by fitting different mathematical models to the data. A composite sigmoidal Emax/Imax (stimulatory/inhibitory) model was found to be the most appropriate to define the system. The observed and calculated parameters supported the modulatory role of both compounds and clearly indicated that the stimulation and inhibition of transmembrane efflux occurred simultaneously in the presence of amlodipine or tamoxifen. It was concluded that amlodipine, similar to tamoxifen, modulated the transporter-dependent transmembrane flux of the P-gp substrate in a concentration-dependent manner.