Pharmacokinetic Interaction between Nisoldipine and Repaglinide in Rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of nisoldipine on the pharmacokinetics of repaglinide in rats. The effect of nisoldipine on cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 activity and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) were evaluated. The pharmacokinetic parameters of repaglinide were also determined in rats after oral (0.5 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) and intravenous (0.2 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) administration of repaglinide to rats without or with nisoldipine (0.3 and 1.0 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$). Nisoldipine inhibited CYP3A4 enzyme activity with a 50% inhibition concentration of 5.5 ${\mu}M$. In addition, nisoldipine significantly enhanced the cellular accumulation of rhodamine-123 in MCF-7/ADR cells overexpressing P-gp. Compared to the oral control group, nisoldipine significantly increased the $AUC_{0-{\infty}}$ and the $C_{max}$ of repaglinide by 46.9% and 24.9%, respectively. Nisoldipine also increased the absolute bioavailability (A.B.) of repaglinide by 47.0% compared to the oral control group. Moreover, the relative bioavailability (R.B.) of repaglinide was 1.16- to 1.47-fold greater than that of the control group. Nisoldipine enhanced the oral bioavailability of repaglinide, which may be attributable to the inhibition of the CYP3A4-mediated metabolism in the small intestine and/or in the liver and to inhibition of P-gp in the small intestine rather than to reduction of renal elimination of repaglinide by nisoldipine. The increase in the oral bioavailability of repaglinide should be taken into consideration of potential drug interactions when co-administering repaglinide and nisoldipine.