Abstract
Purpose
Colistin is an antibiotic which is increasingly used as a last-resort therapy in critically-ill patients with multidrug resistant Gram-negative infections. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mechanisms underlying colistin’s pharmacokinetic (PK) behavior and to characterize its hepatic metabolism.
Methods
In vitro incubations were performed using colistin sulfate with rat liver microsomes (RLM) and with rat and human hepatocytes (RH and HH) in suspension. The uptake of colistin in RH/HH and thefraction of unbound colistin in HH (fu,hep) was determined. In vitro to in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) was employed to predict the hepatic clearance (CLh) of colistin.
Results
Slow metabolism was detected in RH/HH, with intrinsic clearance (CLint) values of 9.34± 0.50 and 3.25 ± 0.27 mL/min/kg, respectively. Assuming the well-stirred model for hepatic drug elimination, the predicted rat CLh was 3.64± 0.22 mL/min/kg which could explain almost 70% of the reported non-renal in vivo clearance. The predicted human CLh was 91.5 ± 8.83 mL/min, which was within two-fold of the reported plasma clearance in healthy volunteers. When colistin was incubated together with the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP/Mrp) inhibitor benzbromarone, the intracellular accumulation of colistin in RH/HH increased significantly.
Conclusion
These findings indicate the major role of hepatic metabolism in the non-renal clearance of colistin, while MRP/Mrp-mediated efflux is involved in the hepatic disposition of colistin. Our data provide detailed quantitative insights into the hereto unknown mechanisms responsible for non-renal elimination of colistin.
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Abbreviations
- AUC:
-
Area under the curve
- CLh :
-
Hepatic clearance
- CLp :
-
Plasma clearance
CLint
intrinsic clearance
- CLmet :
-
Intrinsic clearance via hepatic metabolism
- Css,avg :
-
Average steady state plasma colistin concentration
- \({\mathrm{CL}}_{\mathrm{in}}^s\) :
-
Intrinsic clearance via sinusoidal influx
- \({\mathrm{CL}}_{\mathrm{ef}}^s\) :
-
Intrinsic clearance via sinusoidal efflux
- CMS:
-
Colistin methanesulphonate
- CV:
-
Coefficient of variation
- F:
-
CMS molar fraction that becomes systemically available as colistin (in vivo)
- fu :
-
Fraction unbound in plasma
- fu,hep :
-
Fraction unbound in hepatocytes
- HPGL:
-
Number of hepatocytes per gram liver
- HH:
-
Human hepatocytes
- IVIVE:
-
In vitro-in vivo extrapolation
- MIU:
-
Million international units
- MRP/Mrp:
-
Multidrug resistance-associated proteins
- OATP:
-
Organic anion transporting polypeptides
- PK:
-
Pharmacokinetic
- RH:
-
Rat hepatocytes
- RLM:
-
Rat liver microsomes
- SCH:
-
Sandwich cultured hepatocytes
- SCRH:
-
Sandwich cultured rat hepatocytes
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Acknowledgments
Bing Qi received a PhD scholarship received from China Scholarship Council (CSC).
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This research was supported in part by internal funds of the Drug Delivery and Disposition research unit of the KU Leuven Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences.
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Qi, B., Gijsen, M., De Vocht, T. et al. Unravelling the Hepatic Elimination Mechanisms of Colistin. Pharm Res 40, 1723–1734 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-023-03536-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-023-03536-7