In vitro Drug Release Characteristics of Methotrexate-Human Serum Albumin and 5-Fluorouracil-Acetic Acid Human Serum Albumin Conjugates

The release rates of methotrexate (MTX) from MTX-human serum albumin (HSA) conjugate, and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) from 5-FU acetic acid (AA)-HSA conjugate were determined after incubation of the conjugates in various conditions. The concentrations of 5-FU released from the conjugate increased monoexponentially, however those of MTX increased biexponentially in all studies. It indicated that there are two distinct types of MTX-HSA linkage, weakly and tightly bound linkages. The release rates of 5-FU were lower than those of MTX in all studies indicating that the bond of 5-FU-AA-HSA conjugate is very stable, which is supported by the higher value of activation energy (39. 9 vs 10. 7 Kcal/mole) using Arrhenius equation. The release rates of MTX and 5 -FU from the conjugates increased with incubation temperatures. Proteolytic enzyme and liver homogenates accelerated significantly the release rates of MTX and 5-FU. Approximately 1.30 and 22.0% of MTX were released after 12 hours of incubation in the absence and presence of protease, respectively. The corresponding values for 5-FU were released after 12 hours of incubation with rat liver homogenates which were diluted 6 times with phosphate buffer of pH 6.0. The MTX-HSA and 5-FU-AA-HSA conjugates were very stable in rat plasma.