Inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes by rhein in rat liver microsomes.

Rhein, an active ingredient extensively found in plants such as Aloe, Cassitora L., rhubarb and so on, has been used for a long time in China. Pharmacological tests revealed that rhein not only had a strong antibacterial action, but also may be useful in cancer chemotherapy as a biochemical modulator. Its therapeutic action and toxicity is still the subject of considerable research. With microsome incubation assays in vitro and HPLC methods, the inhibition of rat liver CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A enzymes by rhein were studied kinetically. The results showed the most inhibition of CYP2E1 by rhein (K(i) = 10 microm, mixed); CYP3A and CYP2C9 were also inhibited by rhein, K(i) = 30 microm (mixed) and K(i) = 38 microm (mixed), respectively; rhein revealed some inhibition of CYP1A2 (K(i) = 62 microm, uncompetitive) and CYP2D6 (K(i) = 74 microm, mixed). Drug-drug interactions, especially cytochrome P450 (CYP)-mediated interactions, cause an enhancement or attenuation in the efficacy of co-administered drugs. Inhibition of the five major CYP enzymes observed for rhein suggested that changes in pharmacokinetics of co-administered drugs were likely to occur. Therefore, caution should be paid to the possible drug interaction of medicinal plants containing rhein and CYP substrates.

The unfolding intermediate state of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase during denaturation in guanidine solutions.

The equilibrium unfolding of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase in guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) solutions was studied by following the fluorescence and ultraviolet difference spectra. At low concentrations of GdmCl (< 1.6 M), the fluorescence intensity decreased with a slight red shift of the emission maximum from 332 nm to 344 nm. An unfolding intermediate state was observed at a broad concentration range of GdmCl as a denaturant (between 1.6 and 2.6 M). This intermediate was characterized by increased fluorescence emission intensity, ultraviolet difference absorption at 236 nm and 260 nm, as well as increased binding to the protein and red shift of the fluorescence probe 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid.

Study of refolding of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase.

Calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase (CIP) was denatured in 3.0 M guanidine hydrochloride for 2 h at 25 degrees C, before being diluted 20-fold with 0.1 M, pH 8.0, Tris-HCl buffer solution containing various effector molecules such as Mg2+, Zn2+, and nucleotide phosphate. The reactivation courses of the enzyme were investigated by the level of activity recovery, the recovery rate constant, and the relative standard deviation of the data. In the presence of effectors, the courses under reducing and nonreducing conditions of disulfide bonds of protein were compared. It was concluded that for CIP, Mg2+ is a more efficient inducer of reconstitution of the active site and appears to play a specific role. In addition, the present study discusses the differences in the refolding effectors between bacterial and mammalian enzymes.

[Simultaneous determination of three probe drugs by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography].

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous quantitative determination of caffeine, dapsone and chlorzoxazone. The operation was carried out on a C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5.0 microns) with the mobile phase of acetonitrile-phosphate buffer (including 0.02 mol/L KH2PO4 and 0.02 mol/L (C2H5)3N, pH 6.5) (25:75 in volume ratio). The eluate was detected at 265 nm in 0 min-12 min and at 280 nm in 12 min-25 min. Excellent linearity was observed over the effective concentration ranges in plasma. This method is simple, fast and can be applicable to clinical safe prescription.