[Significance of Allowing Pharmacy Students to Attend Visits to Home Care Patients].

In 2006, with the admission of a new batch of students, pharmaceutical education became a 6-year course. This was a result of the urgent need to train a new generation of pharmacists to respond to increasingly advanced and intricate medical care as well as the specific need to coordinate with multiple occupational categories. Meanwhile, with Japan becoming an aged society, medical care has undergone functional differentiation, and home care is now being promoted. As part of an 11- week practical course for 5th-year practical training, students attended visits to home care patients from an early stage, making it possible for them to be present at multiple visits. This was highly significant because it allowed students to experience various disease states of different patients and increase their practical knowledge of pharmaceuticals. This study explores the case example of proposals made by pharmacy students for improving medication-related problems in home care patients during 5th-year practical training.

Inhibition of P-glycoprotein by flavonoid derivatives in adriamycin-resistant human myelogenous leukemia (K562/ADM) cells.

We investigated the effects of natural flavones, quercetin and morin, and their pentamethyl, pentaethyl, pentapropyl, pentabutyl and pentaallyl ethers, on the function of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) assessed by an increase in the uptake of [3H]vincristine by human myelogenous leukemia (K562) cells and adriamycin-resistant human myelogenous leukemia (K562/ADM) cells. Pentamethyl, pentaethyl, pentapropyl and pentaallyl ethers of morin and quercetin (20 microM) all increased the uptake of [3H]vincristine by K562/ADM cells, while quercetin, morin and their pentabutyl ethers had no effect. Pentamethylquercetin, pentaallylquercetin and pentaethylmorin remarkably increased the uptake of [3H]vincristine by K562/ADM cells by 10.6, 10.8 and 14.4-fold, respectively. These inhibitory potencies for P-gp were more potent than typical P-gp inhibitors, cyclosporine A and verapamil. Taking into consideration that these flavonoid derivatives possess antitumor promoter activity, they may become candidates of effective multidrug resistance-reversing agents in cancer chemotherapy.

Effects of various methoxyflavones on vincristine uptake and multidrug resistance to vincristine in P-gp-overexpressing K562/ADM cells.

PURPOSE: Some methoxyflavones (MFs) are known to inhibit the function of P-glycoprotein. The aim of this study is to characterize the reversal of multidrug resistance (MDR) by MFs. METHODS: The effects of 19 MFs, including 3,5,6,7,8,3',4'-heptamethoxyflavone, nobiletin, and tangeretin, and flavone on the uptake of [3H]vincristine into an adriamycin-resistant variant of human chronic myelogenous leukemia (K562/ADM) cells were investigated. Potentiation of vincristine-induced growth inhibition by these MFs was also tested in K562/ADM cells by means of WST-1 [2-(4-iodophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium] assay. RESULTS: All MFs (20 microM) tested increased the uptake of [3H]vincristine. 3,5,6,7,8,3',4'-heptamethoxyflavone, nobiletin, tangeretin, quercetagetin and quercetin pentamethylether showed especially potent effects. The increase in the uptake of [3H]vincristine was proportional to the number of methoxyl moieties. While substitution with a methoxyl moiety at the C3 position was the most influential, methoxyl substitution at both the C3' and C5' positions resulted in a decrease in the potentiation of uptake. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between the potencies for increasing [3H]vincristine uptake and for growth inhibition assessed by WST-1 assay. CONCLUSIONS: MFs increased the uptake of [3H]vincristine into MDR cells and exhibited MDR-reversing effects. Their potencies were influenced by the number and positions of the methoxyl moieties.