Effect of Intestinal and Hepatic First-pass Extraction on the Pharmacokinetics of Everolimus in Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the effects of intestinal and hepatic extraction on the pharmacokinetics of everolimus in rats. Everolimus was administered intravenously, intraportally or intraintestinally in order to separately evaluate the intestinal and hepatic first-pass extraction. Cyclosporine or tacrolimus was administered into rat intestines, and after 10 min everolimus pharmacokinetics were evaluated. The blood concentrations of everolimus were measured by the high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Total body clearance of everolimus was constant in the dosage from 0.2 to 1.0 mg/kg. The bioavailability after intraportal and intraintestinal administration were 48.0% and 21.2%, respectively. Concomitantly administered cyclosporine (5 mg/kg) , but not tacrolimus (1 mg/kg), significantly decreased the total body clearance of everolimus compared with the control, and also increased the bioavailabilty of everolimus after intraintestinal administration 1.75-fold. Cyclosporine significantly increased the area under the blood concentration-time curve of everolimus after the intraintestinal constant infusion 3-fold, and increased that after the intraportal constant infusion only 1.35-fold. In conclusion, the intestine as well as liver contributes to the first-pass extraction for everolimus in rats. Intestinally administered cyclosporine inhibited the intestinal extraction of everolimus more than its hepatic extraction.