Fate of d-Fagomine after Oral Administration to Rats.

d-Fagomine is an iminosugar found in buckwheat that is capable of inhibiting the adhesion of potentially pathogenic bacteria to epithelial mucosa and reducing the postprandial blood glucose concentration. This paper evaluates the excretion and metabolism of orally administered d-fagomine in rats and compares outcomes with the fate of 1-deoxynojirimycin. d-Fagomine and 1-deoxynojirimycin show similar absorption and excretion kinetics. d-Fagomine is partly absorbed (41-84%, dose of 2 mg/kg of body weight) and excreted in urine within 8 h, while the non-absorbed fraction is cleared in feces within 24 h. d-Fagomine is partially methylated (about 10% in urine and 3% in feces). The concentration of d-fagomine in urine from 1 to 6 h after administration is higher than 10 mg/L, the concentration that inhibits adhesion of Escherichia coli. Orally administered d-fagomine is partially absorbed and then rapidly excreted in urine, where it reaches a concentration that may be protective against urinary tract infections.

N-Alkylated aziridines are easily-prepared, potent, specific and cell-permeable covalent inhibitors of human ß-glucocerebrosidase.

ß-Glucocerebrosidase deficiency leads to Gaucher disease and is a potential marker of Parkinson's disease. We have identified N-octyl conduritol aziridine as a potent and specific covalent inactivator of GBA1 in living cells. This compound is a promising lead towards a positron emission tomography probe intended to image GBA1 activity.

[In-vitro study of the drug interactions between Miglitol, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, and adsorbents].

The interactions between miglitol, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, and six adsorbents (carbon spheres, cholestyramine, colestimide, sevelamer hydrochloride, calcium polystyrene sulfonate, and sodium polystyrene sulfonate) were investigated in vitro. Miglitol corresponding to the minimum dose and adsorbents corresponding to the maximum dose were incubated at 37 degrees C for 180 min in solutions of pH 1.2 (gastric pH condition) and pH 6.8 (enteric pH condition), with and without the presence of carbohydrates, which were added to observe the effects on food adsorption. The adsorption ratio of miglitol to carbon spheres was 13.6% and 0% in pH 1.2 solution and 86.4% and 5.0% in pH 6.8 solution without and with the presence of carbohydrates, respectively. Thus, the adsorption ratio was higher in pH 6.8 solution. Adsorption of miglitol to calcium polystyrene sulfonate was nearly the same, 15.0-21.9%, at both pH. The adsorption ratio of miglitol to sodium polystyrene sulfonate was 43.4% and 45.5%, respectively, in pH 1.2 solution without and with carbohydrates. In the pH 6.8 solutions, however, the respective adsorption ratios were low (5.2% and 11.3%). Miglitol did not adsorb to cholestyramine, sevelamer hydrochloride or colestimide under any pH condition examined. The above results suggest that miglitol adsorbs to carbon spheres and polystyrene sulfonic acid cation exchange resins. However, considering that miglitol is taken just before eating and thus exists in gastointestinal fluids together with food, and that the site of its effect is the upper small intestine, the interactions between miglitol and these adsorbents will most likely not be a problem.

Administration of miglitol until 30 min after the start of a meal is effective in type 2 diabetic patients.

Miglitol, a pseudomonosaccharide alpha-glucosidase inhibitor (alphaGI), was more effective at reducing blood glucose levels at 30 and 60 min after a meal than voglibose. Speculating that miglitol administered even after the start of a meal may be effective, we evaluated the timing of administration of miglitol on the plasma glucose and serum insulin levels in 13 type 2 diabetic patients. Miglitol was administered in four different intake manners in each patient (control: no miglitol; intake 1: just before breakfast; intake 2: 15 min after the beginning of breakfast; intake 3: 30 min after the beginning of breakfast). The area under the curve (AUC) of plasma glucose was significantly decreased under all the intake conditions, as compared with the AUC in the control. The AUC of serum insulin tended to be lower in all the three groups than in the control, although the differences were not statistically significant. Thus, miglitol administered anytime within 30 min after the start of a meal is effective for glycemic control. These results suggest that if patients miss taking miglitol at the beginning of a meal, they can still take the drug until 30 min after starting their meal.

Determination of miglitol in human plasma by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid and sensitive method for the determination of miglitol in human plasma using voglibose as internal standard has been developed and validated. Samples of plasma were deproteinated with acetonitrile and washed with dichloromethane before being analyzed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Separation was carried out on a short Nucleosil C(18) column (5 microm, 50 x 4.6 mm i.d.) using 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate at 1.0 mL/min as mobile phase. The detector was an Applied Biosystems Sciex API 4000 mass spectrometer using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) for ion production. The instrument was operated at unit resolution in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. The assay was linear over the range 5.00-2000 ng/mL with a limit of detection of 1.00 ng/mL. Intra- and inter-day precision were <2.82% and <2.92%, respectively, with accuracy of 93.3-106%. The assay was successfully applied to a clinical pharmacokinetic study of miglitol given as a single oral dose (50 mg) to healthy volunteers.

Liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantification of miglitol in human plasma.

A rapid, sensitive and accurate liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantification of miglitol (CAS 72432-03-2), an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, in human plasma using gabapentin (CAS 60142-96-3) as internal standard (IS). Following protein precipitation, the analytes were separated using an isocratic mobile phase on a reversed phase phenyl column and analyzed by MS in the multiple reaction monitoring mode using the respective [M+H]+ ions, m/z 208/146 for miglitol and m/z 172/154 for the IS. The assay exhibited a linear dynamic range of 100-6000 ng/mL for miglitol in human plasma. The lower limit of quantification was 100 ng/mL with a relative standard deviation of less than 5 %. Acceptable precision and accuracy were obtained for concentrations over the standard curve ranges. The average absolute recoveries of miglitol and the IS from spiked plasma samples were 40.5 +/- 2.7 and 47.1 +/- 2.9 %, respectively. A run time of 2.5 min for each sample made it possible to analyze a throughput of more than 400 human plasma samples per day. The validated method has been successfully used to analyze human plasma samples for application in pharmacokinetic, bioavailability or bioequivalence studies. The miglitol plasma concentration profile could be obtained for pharmacokinetic study. The observed maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of miglitol (100 mg oral dose) is 1740 ng/mL, time to observed maximum plasma concentration (tmax) is 3.5 h and elimination half-life (t(1/2)) is 2.5 h.