Effect of hydroxyzine on the transport of etoposide in rat small intestine.

Etoposide, an anti-neoplastic agent and a substrate of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), exhibits variable oral bioavailability. P-gp, the multidrug resistance gene (mdr1) product, has been considered as an absorption barrier against intestinal drug absorption. Terfenadine, an antihistamine, has been shown to be a P-gp inhibitor. The current study was designed to assess the effect of hydroxyzine, an antihistamine, on the transport of etoposide in the small intestine. Everted rat gut sacs were used to determine the absorption and exsorption of etoposide under different conditions, as rhodamine 123 was chosen to evaluate the role of P-gp in the drug interaction. The results showed that the transport of etoposide was significantly increased from the luminal site to the serosal site in the jejunum by 2- and 4-fold after 90 min in the presence of hydroxyzine and quinidine, respectively. A similar trend was observed in the ileal sacs. This in vitro exsorption study also demonstrated that hydroxyzine could reduce the efflux of etoposide to the luminal site in either jejunum or ileum. The effect of hydroxyzine on the pharmacokinetics of etoposide differed by the in vivo route of administration, thus assuming clinical importance for chemotherapeutic treatment.

Expression of mdr-1/P-glycoprotein in human neuroblastoma.

Increased expression of the mdr-1 gene encoding the drug efflux pump P-glycoprotein is a well-established mediator of acquired drug resistance in vitro, and a similar role has been hypothesized in vivo in human malignancy. Because expression of mdr-1 is increased in neuroblastoma cell lines by differentiating agents, the authors hypothesized a similar correlation with differentiation in vivo in neuroblastomas. In 12 tumors from 11 patients, total RNA analysis demonstrated no correlation with differentiation, but a correlation could be detected in the cell-based methods of analysis. The very primitive 'stroma'-poor, poorly differentiated neuroblastomas had low levels of mdr-1/P-glycoprotein. The intermediate grades had higher levels of expression and although heterogeneity of differentiation appeared within these tumors, both primitive and more differentiated cells expressed the gene at comparable levels within the tumor. One very well-differentiated neuroblastoma, a ganglioneuroma, had no detectable expression in the neurofibrillary material, but demonstrated expression in adjacent large ganglionic cells. Thus mdr-1/P-glycoprotein expression increased with increasing differentiation among tumors, and was present in ganglionic cells in the most well-differentiated tumor. The three tumors with the highest levels of expression were obtained from patients who received preoperative chemotherapy.

Mitotane enhances cytotoxicity of chemotherapy in cell lines expressing a multidrug resistance gene (mdr-1/P-glycoprotein) which is also expressed by adrenocortical carcinomas.

P-Glycoprotein (Pgp), product of the mdr-1 gene, is a 130- to 180-kDa plasma membrane phosphoglycoprotein which mediates multidrug resistance in cell culture by increasing efflux of the natural product chemotherapeutic agents. High levels of expression of mdr-1/Pgp are found in both the normal adrenal and adrenocortical cancers. By RNA in situ hybridization the expression in adrenocortical cancer is shown to be widely distributed. The present study demonstrates that decreased drug accumulation mediated by mdr-1/Pgp can be overcome by clinically achievable concentrations of mitotane (o,p'-DDD). The increase in drug accumulation with the addition of mitotane is due at least in part to a decrease in drug efflux and results in an increase in cytotoxicity when agents of the natural product class are used. This effect is observed in cells with a broad range of mdr-1/Pgp expression, including levels comparable to those found in most adrenocortical cancers. Similar increases in drug accumulation can be demonstrated in an unselected adrenocortical cancer cell line that expresses mdr-1/Pgp. The finding that multidrug resistance mediated by mdr-1/Pgp can be reversed by mitotane provides a rational basis for exploring the use of mitotane in combination with natural product chemotherapeutic agents in adrenocortical cancer.

CO(2) laser frequency stabilization using the radio-frequency optogalvanic Lamb dip.

The Lamb dip of the CO(2) saturation signal in an extracavity low-pressure CO(2)-N(2) rf glow discharge is detected optogalvanically and used to stabilize the frequency of a CO(2) laser. The frequency stability is estimated to be better than 100 kHz.