Permeation and Enzymatic Degradation of Aspalatone in Gastrointestinal Tract of Rabbit

아스팔라톤의 토끼 위장관 점막 투과 및 효소적 분해

To evaluate the site-specific permeation of aspalatone (acetylsalicylic acid maltol ester, AM) through gastrointestinal tract, the enzymatic degradation and permeation studies were carried out using gastric, duodenal and jejunal mucosae of rabbits. It was found that $15.2{\pm}11.4%$, $11.6{\pm}5.2$ and $0.8{\pm}0.6%$ of the donor dose of AM, salicylmaltol (SM) and aspirin (ASA) permeated through the upper gastric mucosa after 8 hr of permeation, respectively. After 8 hr of AM permeation, SM and ASA were measured to be $15.0{\pm}1.7$ and $2.6{\pm}0.8%$ of the dose in the donor solutions, respectively, and salicylic acid (SA) was not detected even after 6 hr, suggesting a very low gastric damage. For the gastric mucosa, the increase of donor dose from 100 to $1,000\;{\mu}g/ml$ increased the permeation flux dose-dependently (r=0.9905). For the duodenal and jejunal mucosae, however, AM was fully degraded into SM and SA due to the esterase activities within 30 min. AM and ASA were not detected in the receptor solution. This result indicates that AM is not a prodrug of ASA. Addition of potassium fluoride (0.5%) into the donor solution delayed the degradation of AM, but did not allow the permeation through duodenal mucosa even by the inhibition of esterase activity. The addition of $dimethyl-{\beta}-cyclodextrin$ and $2-hydroxypropyl-{\beta}-cyclodextrin$ (5%) into the donor solutions also did not show favorable effects on the permeation of AM through various mucosae. In comparison of permeation rates of AM and ASA through the upper gastric mucosa, the flux of ASA was 4.2 times faster than AM based on the molar concentration. ASA also was fully degraded in the donor solutions faced with duodenal and jejunal mucosae within 2 hr, and was not detected in the receptor solution, suggesting a slower metabolism compared with AM.