The effects of ferulic acid on the pharmacokinetics of warfarin in rats after biliary drainage.

According to previous research studies, warfarin can be detected in human bile after oral administration. Ferulic acid (FA) is the main bioactive component of many Chinese herbs for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. To elucidate the effects of FA on the pharmacokinetics of warfarin in rats after biliary drainage is necessary. Twenty rats were randomly divided into four groups: Group 1 (WN): healthy rats after the administration of warfarin sodium, Group 2 (WO): a rat model of biliary drainage after the administration of warfarin sodium, Group 3 (WFN): healthy rats after the administration of warfarin sodium and FA, and Group 4 (WFO): a rat model of biliary drainage after the administration of warfarin sodium and FA. Blood samples were collected at different time points after administration. The concentrations of blood samples were determined by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Comparisons between groups were performed according to the main pharmacokinetic parameters calculated by the DAS 2.1.1 software. The pharmacokinetic parameters showed a significant difference between the WN and WO groups, the WO group showed a decrease of 51% and 41.6% in area under the curve from 0 to time (AUC0- t ) and peak plasma concentration (C max), respectively, whereas time to C max (T max) was delayed 3.27 folds. There were significant differences between the WFO and WFN groups, the WFO group showed a decrease of 63.8% and 70% in AUC0- t and C max, respectively; the delay in T max between the WN and WFN groups (mean, from 132-432 minutes) was significantly different; the mean retention time from 0 to time (MRT0- t ) between the WO and WFO groups (mean, from 718.31-606.13 minutes) also showed a significant difference. Enterohepatic circulation markedly influences the disposition of warfarin in rats, and FA significantly affected the warfarin disposition in rat plasma.

Therapeutic Potential of Temperate Forage Legumes: A Review.

The discovery of bioactive molecules from botanical sources is an expanding field, preferentially oriented to plants having a tradition of use in medicine and providing high yields and availability. Temperate forage legumes are Fabaceae species that include worldwide-important crops. These plants possess therapeutic virtues that have not only been used in veterinary and folk medicine, but have also attracted the interest of official medicine. We have examined here Medicago sativa (alfalfa), Trifolium pratense and T. repens (clovers), Melilotus albus and M. officinalis (sweet clovers), Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil), Onobrychis viciifolia (sainfoin), Lespedeza capitata (roundhead lespedeza), and Galega officinalis (goat's rue). The phytochemical complexes of these species contain secondary metabolites whose pharmacological potentials deserve investigation. Major classes of compounds include alkaloids and amines, cyanogenic glycosides, flavonoids, coumarins, condensed tannins, and saponins. Some of these phytochemicals have been related to antihypercholesterolemia, antidiabetic, antimenopause, anti-inflammatory, antiedema, anthelmintic, and kidney protective effects. Two widely prescribed drugs have been developed starting from temperate forage legumes, namely, the antithrombotic warfarin, inspired from sweet clover's coumarin, and the antidiabetic metformin, a derivative of sainfoin's guanidine. Available evidence suggests that temperate forage legumes are a potentially important resource for the extraction of active principles to be used as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.

Raman spectroscopy as a complementary tool to assess the content uniformity of dosage units in break-scored warfarin tablets.

Due to the side effects of overdosing, the therapeutic dose of warfarin preparations must be very strictly controlled. In order to make it easier for the patient to take the required dose, two different strategies can be followed: The medicine can be commercialized in different dosages and/or tablets can be scored in order to make them easy to split. The splitting of the tablets introduces the question of how to control that the fractions contain the desirable amount of warfarin. The regulations regarding the content uniformity of dosage unit for scored tablets have changed considerably in the last 10 years, and they are still evolving. Warfarin is commercialized under the trademark of Aldocumar in four different preparations, containing 1, 3, 5 and 10 mg sodium warfarin per tablet. All these tablets are also scored, thus suggesting the possibility of splitting. A quantitative Raman method has been developed for the determination of warfarin in tablets and in the potential fragments, taking into account the score lines on the tablet surface. This method is suggested as an auxiliary procedure to verify the uniformity of API distribution in dividable tablets. A combination of a second derivative and standard normal variate (SNV) was used as spectral pre-treatments, and partial least squares (PLS) as the regression algorithm. The relative standard deviation in API content among portions was found to be less than 5%. An HPLC procedure has been used as a reference analytical method.

Herbal composition PC-SPES for management of prostate cancer: identification of active principles.

BACKGROUND: The herbal mixture PC-SPES, used to manage advanced prostate cancer, has proven thrombogenic and highly estrogenic in clinical trials. However, attempts to identify the active compounds in PC-SPES have yielded incongruous results. Moreover, warfarin was identified in the serum of a patient taking PC-SPES who experienced a bleeding disorder. To determine the active components in PC-SPES potentially responsible for these effects, we analyzed PC-SPES lots manufactured from l996 through mid-2001. METHODS: Antineoplastic activity of PC-SPES and its individual component extracts was determined by colony-forming assays with several prostate cancer cell lines, and estrogenicity was determined by analyzing expression of an estrogen-responsive reporter gene in breast cancer cells. High-pressure liquid chromatography was used to isolate, identify, and quantify components of PC-SPES. Components were also identified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and mass spectra analysis. RESULTS: PC-SPES lots manufactured from 1996 through mid-1999 contained the synthetic compounds indomethacin (range = 1.07-13.19 mg/g) and diethylstilbestrol (range = 107.28-159.27 micro g/g) and were two to six times more antineoplastic and up to 50 times more estrogenic than lots manufactured after the spring of 1999. In lots manufactured after mid-1999, gradual declines in the concentrations of indomethacin (from 1.56 to 0.70 mg/g), diethylstilbestrol (from 46.36 to 0.00 micro g/g), and total phytosterols (from 0.586 to 0.085 mg/g) were observed. Warfarin was identified for the first time in lots manufactured after July 1998 (range = 341-560 micro g/g). In the August 2001 lot, increases were found in concentrations of the natural products licochalcone A (from 27.6 to 289.2 micro g/g) and baicalin (from 12.5 to 38.8 mg/g). CONCLUSIONS: The phytochemical composition of PC-SPES varied by lot, and chemical analyses detected various amounts of the synthetic drugs diethylstilbestrol, indomethacin, and warfarin and several natural products. To qualify for clinical pharmacologic exploration, nutritional supplements including herbal mixtures should meet standards of quality control under the Good Manufacturing Practice system, and the manufacturers of such supplements should provide reliable analytical quality assurance.

Tests of potential functional barriers for laminated multilayer food packages. Part II: Medium molecular weight permeants.

Experiments were performed to characterize the kinetics of the permeation of different medium molecular weight model permeants: bisphenol A, warfarin and anthracene, from liquid paraffin, through a surrogate potential functional barrier (25 microns-thick orientated polypropylene--OPP) into the food simulants olive oil and 3% (w/v) acetic acid. The characterization of permeation kinetics generally observed the permeation models previously reported to explain the experimental permeation results obtained for a low molecular weight group of model permeants. In general, the model permeants exhibited behaviour consistent with their relative molecular weights with respect to (a) the time taken to attain steady-state permeation into the food simulant in which they were more soluble, (b) their subsequent steady-state permeation rates, and (c) their partition between liquid paraffin and the OPP membrane.

[Breast feeding and oral anticoagulants]. / Borstvoeding en orale anticoagulantia.

Oral anticoagulants are frequently prescribed during lactation. Because these drugs could affect the hemostasis of the newborn, we did a literature search to find out whether precautions should be taken. It appeared that acenocoumarol and warfarin are not detectable in human milk. Besides the usual daily supplementation of 25 micrograms vitamin K for every breast-fed infant, precautions are not necessary. Phenprocoumon, ethylbiscoumacetate and phenindione are excreted in human milk and could affect neonatal hemostasis.