The Rat Continuous Intestine Model Predicts the Impact of Particle Size and Transporters on the Oral Absorption of Glyburide.

Oral drug absorption is known to be impacted by the physicochemical properties of drugs, properties of oral formulations, and physiological characteristics of the intestine. The goal of the present study was to develop a mathematical model to predict the impact of particle size, feeding time, and intestinal transporter activity on oral absorption. A previously published rat continuous intestine absorption model was extended for solid drug absorption. The impact of active pharmaceutical ingredient particle size was evaluated with glyburide (GLY) as a model drug. Two particle size suspensions of glyburide were prepared with average particle sizes of 42.7 and 4.1 µm. Each suspension was dosed as a single oral gavage to male Sprague Dawley rats, and concentration-time (C-t) profiles of glyburide were measured with liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. A continuous rat intestine absorption model was extended to include drug dissolution and was used to predict the absorption kinetics of GLY depending on particle size. Additional literature datasets of rat GLY formulations with particle sizes ranging from 0.25 to 4.0 µm were used for model predictions. The model predicted reasonably well the absorption profiles of GLY based on varying particle size and varying feeding time. The model predicted inhibition of intestinal uptake or efflux transporters depending on the datasets. The three datasets used formulations with different excipients, which may impact the transporter activity. Model simulations indicated that the model provides a facile framework to predict the impact of transporter inhibition on drug C-t profiles. Model simulations can also be conducted to evaluate the impact of an altered intestinal lumen environment. In conclusion, the rat continuous intestine absorption model may provide a useful tool to predict the impact of varying drug formulations on rat oral absorption profiles.

A permeability- and perfusion-based PBPK model for improved prediction of concentration-time profiles.

To improve predictions of concentration-time (C-t) profiles of drugs, a new physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling framework (termed 'PermQ') has been developed. This model includes permeability into and out of capillaries, cell membranes, and intracellular lipids. New modeling components include (i) lumping of tissues into compartments based on both blood flow and capillary permeability, and (ii) parameterizing clearances in and out of membranes with apparent permeability and membrane partitioning values. Novel observations include the need for a shallow distribution compartment particularly for bases. C-t profiles were modeled for 24 drugs (7 acidic, 5 neutral, and 12 basic) using the same experimental inputs for three different models: Rodgers and Rowland (RR), a perfusion-limited membrane-based model (Kp,mem ), and PermQ. Kp,mem and PermQ can be directly compared since both models have identical tissue partition coefficient parameters. For the 24 molecules used for model development, errors in Vss and t1/2 were reduced by 37% and 43%, respectively, with the PermQ model. Errors in C-t profiles were reduced (increased EOC) by 43%. The improvement was generally greater for bases than for acids and neutrals. Predictions were improved for all 3 models with the use of parameters optimized for the PermQ model. For five drugs in a test set, similar results were observed. These results suggest that prediction of C-t profiles can be improved by including capillary and cellular permeability components for all tissues.

Predicting Impact of Food and Feeding Time on Oral Absorption of Drugs with a Novel Rat Continuous Intestinal Absorption Model.

Intricacies in intestinal physiology, drug properties, and food effects should be incorporated into models to predict complex oral drug absorption. A previously published human continuous intestinal absorption model based on the convection-diffusion equation was modified specifically for the male Sprague-Dawley rat in this report. Species-specific physiologic conditions along intestinal length - experimental velocity and pH under fasted and fed conditions, were measured and incorporated into the intestinal absorption model. Concentration-time (C-t) profiles were measured upon a single intravenous and peroral (PO) dose for three drugs: amlodipine (AML), digoxin (DIG), and glyburide (GLY). Absorption profiles were predicted and compared with experimentally collected data under three feeding conditions: 12-hour fasted rats were provided food at two specific times after oral drug dose (1 hour and 2 hours for AML and GLY; 0.5 hours and 1 hour for DIG), or they were provided food for the entire study. Intravenous versus PO C-t profiles suggested absorption even at later times and informed design of appropriate mathematical input functions based on experimental feeding times. With this model, AML, DIG, and GLY oral C-t profiles for all feeding groups were generally well predicted, with exposure overlap coefficients in the range of 0.80-0.97. Efflux transport for DIG and uptake and efflux transport for GLY were included, modeling uptake transporter inhibition in the presence of food. Results indicate that the continuous intestinal rat model incorporates complex physiologic processes and feeding times relative to drug dose into a simple framework to provide accurate prediction of oral absorption. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: A novel rat continuous intestinal model predicts drug absorption with respect to time and intestinal length. Feeding time relative to dose was modeled as a key effect. Experimental fasted/fed intestinal pH and velocity, efflux and uptake transporter expression along intestinal length, and uptake transporter inhibition in the presence of food were modeled. The model uses the pharmacokinetic profiles of three model drugs and provides a novel framework to study food effects on absorption.