• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2011

The objective of the study was to prepare self-microeulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) incorporating atorvastatin calcium and evaluate its properties and oral bioavailability. Solubility of atorvastatin in various vehicles was determined. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed to identify the good self-emulsification region. The droplet size distributions of the resultant emulsions were determined by dynamic light scattering measurement. The mean droplet size of chosen formulation (20% ethyl oleate, 40% tween-80, 40% Carbitol$^{(R)}$) was $23.4{\pm}1.3$ nm. The SMEDDS incorporating atorvastatin calcium appeared to be associated with better performance in dissolution and pharmacokinetic studies, compared with raw atorvastatin calcium. In dissolution test, the release percentage of atorvastatin from SMEDDS mixture could rapidly reach more than 95% within 3 min. Oral $AUC_{0{\rightarrow}8hr}$ values in SD rats was $1994{\pm}335\;ng{\cdot}hr/mL$, which significantly increased (P<0.05) compared with raw atorvastatin calcium. The SMEDDS formulation was relatively stable when stored at $4^{\circ}C$ during 3 months. Our studies illustrated the potential use of SMEDDS for the delivery of hydrophobic compounds, such as atorvastatin, by the oral route.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.559-565
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• 2003

An analytical method the determination of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and its hydroxylated metabolites, 1-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene (1-OHBaP), 3-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene (3-OHBaP), benzo(a)pyrene-4,5-dihydrodiol (4,5-diolBaP) and benzo(a)pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol (7,8-diolBaP), in rat urine and plasma has been developed by HPLC/FLD and GC/MS. The derivatization with alkyl iodide was employed to improve the resolution and the detection of two mono hydroxylated metabolites, 1-OHBaP and 3-OHBaP, in LC and GC. BaP and its four metabolites in spiked urine were successfully separated by gradient elution on reverse phase ODS $C_{18}$ column (4.6 mm I.D., 100 mm length, particle size 5 ㎛) using a binary mixture of MeOH/H₂O (85/15, v/v) as mobile phase after ethylation at 90 ℃ for 10 min. The extraction recoveries of BaP and its metabolites in spiked samples with liquid-liquid extraction, which was better than solid phase extraction, were in the range of 90.3- 101.6% in n-hexane for urine and 95.7-106.3% in acetone for plasma, respectively. The calibration curves has shown good linearity with the correlation coefficients (R²) varying from 0.992 to 1.000 for urine and from 0.996 to 1.000 for plasma, respectively. The detection limits of all analytes were obtained in the range of 0.01-0.1 ng/mL for urine and 0.1-0.4 ng/mL for plasma, respectively. The metabolites of BaP were excreted as mono hydroxy and dihydrodiol forms after intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/kg of BaP to rats. The total amounts of BaP and four metabolites excreted in dosed rat urine were 3.79 ng over the 0-96 hr period from adminstration and the excretional recovery was less than 0.065% of the injection amounts of BaP. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of BaP and its hydroxylated metabolites in rat urine and plasma for the pharmacokinetic studies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.105-114
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• 2020

Background: Exploring the pharmacokinetic (PK) changes of various active components of single herbs and their combinations is necessary to elucidate the compatibility mechanism. However, the lack of chemical standards and low concentrations of multiple active ingredients in the biological matrix restrict PK studies. Methods: A putative multiple reaction monitoring strategy based on liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was developed to extend the PK scopes of quantification without resorting to the use of chemical standards. First, the compounds studied, including components with available reference standard (ARS) and components lacking reference standard (LRS), were preclassified to several groups according to their chemical structures. Herb decoctions were then subjected to ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis with appropriate collision energy (CE) in MS² mode. Finally, multiple reaction monitoring transitions transformed from MS² of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry were used for ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry to obtain the mass responses of LRS components. LRS components quantification was further performed by developing an assistive group-dependent semiquantitative method. Results: The developed method was exemplified by the comparative PK process of single herbs Radix Ginseng (RG), Radix Polygala (RP), and their combinations (RG-RP). Significant changes in PK parameters were observed before and after combination. Conclusion: Results indicated that Traditional Chinese Medicine combinations can produce synergistic effects and diminish possible toxic effects, thereby reflecting the advantages of compatibility. The proposed strategy can solve the quantitative problem of LRS and extend the scopes of PK studies.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2014

Purpose: The pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus, one of the most widely used immunosuppressive drugs, are known to vary by sex, age, and ethnicity during pediatric transplantation. This study assessed the pharmacokinetic characteristics and associated factors of tacrolimus in Korean children receiving a kidney transplant. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the pharmacokinetic data (therapeutic dose, trough level, clearance, and half-life) of 9 children who were given tacrolimus as one of their initial immunosuppressive drugs after kidney transplantation. In addition, we compared the findings to data from 10 adult kidney transplant recipients. Results: The mean age of our pediatric patients was 13.9 years, and the maleto- female ratio was 4:5. The mean dose of tacrolimus was $0.19{\pm}0.14$ mg/kg/day. The mean dose of tacrolimus for males was $0.23{\pm}0.12$ mg/kg/day, which was significantly higher than the dose for females ($0.16{\pm}0.14$ mg/kg/day). The trough level was not significantly different between both groups. The clearance rate of tacrolimus for males was also significantly higher than females. Although the dosage of tacrolimus for patients over the age of 12 years was lower ($0.18{\pm}0.13$ vs. $0.21{\pm}0.16$ mg/kg/day) and the trough level was higher ($8.2{\pm}4.5$ vs. $7.2{\pm}4.2$ mg/mL) than that for patients under the age of 12 years, there was no significant difference between them. However, there were significant differences between children and adults in dose, clearance, and half-life of tacrolimus. Conclusion: Out study suggests that the pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus tends to vary with sex and age. Therefore, large-scale prospective studies are required to verify the proper therapeutic dosage of tacrolimus in Korean children.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.89-100
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• 2014

Objective : The co-administration effects of Gongjindan (GJD) on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of sorafenib were observed as a process of the comprehensive and integrative medicine. Methods : After sorafenib treatment, GJD was administered within 5 min. The plasma were collected at 30min before administration, 30min, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 24hrs after end of GJD treatment, and plasma concentrations of sorafenib were analyzed using LC-MS/MS methods. PK parameters of sorafenib ($T_{max}$, $C_{max}$, AUC, $t_{1/2}$ and $MRT_{inf}$) were analysis as compared with sorafenib single administered rats. Results : The absorption of sorafenib were significantly increased at 30min, 1, 6 and 6hrs after co-administration with GJD as compared with sorafenib single treated rats. Accordingly, the $AUC_{0-t}$ (47.20%) of sorafenib was significantly increased but $t_{1/2}$ (-30.63%) and $MRT_{inf}$ (-34.11%) in co-administered rats were non-significantly decreased. These findings are considered as direct evidences that GJD increased the oral bioavailability of sorafenib through increase of the absorption, when they co-administered within 5min. Conclusion : Based on the results, co-administration of GJD increased the oral bioavailability of sorafenib through increase of the gastrointestinal absorption. It is considered that the more detail pharmacokinetic studies should be tested to conclude the effects of GJD on the pharmacokinetics of sorafenib, when they were co-administered, like the effects after co-administration with reasonable intervals considering the $T_{max}$ of sorafenib (about 3.5hr-intervals) and after repeated co-administrations.Hence, concomitant uses of GJD with sorafenib may require close monitoring for potential drug interactions.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2005

An HPLC method was employed for the determination of ethambutol in human plasma. After addition of internal standard (IS, octylamine, $2\;{\mu}g/mL$) and alkalinization of the plasma with 5 M sodium hydroxide, the drug and IS were extracted into the mixture of chloroform and diethyl ether (40:60, v/v). Following a 15-min vortex-mixing and a 10min centrifugation, the organic phase was spiked with $100{\mu}L$ of phenylethylisocyanate $(2000{\mu}g/mL)$ for chemical derivatization, mixed for 5 min and evaporated to dryness under a stream of nitrogen. The residue was reconstituted with $100{\mu}L$ of mobile phase and $20{\mu}L$ was injected into C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of methanol:water (70:30, v/v). The samples were detected utilizing an ultraviolet detector at 200 nm. The method was specific and validated with a limit of $0.15\;{\mu}g/mL$. Intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were acceptable for all quality control samples including the lower limit of quantification. The applicability of this method was demonstrated by analysis of human plasma after oral administration of a single 1200-mg dose to 20 healthy subjects. From the plasma ethambutol concentration vs. time curves, the mean AUC was $9.61{\pm}1.64\;{\mu}g{\cdot}hr/mL$ and Cmax of $2.68\;{\mu}g/mL$ reached 2.73 hr after administration. The mean biological half-life of ethambutol was $3.46{\pm}1.21$ hr. Based on the results, this simple and validated assay could readily be used in any pharmacokinetic studies using humans.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.7-20
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• 1995

Taurine, a ${\beta}-amino$ acid, plays an important role as a neuromodulator and is necessary for the normal development of the brain. Since de novo synthesis of taurine in the brain is minimal and in vivo studies suggest that taurine dose not cross the blood-brain barrier, we examined whether the choroid plexus, the blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier, plays a role in taurine transport in the central nervous system. The uptake of $[^3H]-taurine$ into ATP depleted choroid plexus from rabbit was substantially greater in the presence of an inwardly directed $Na^+$ gradient taurine accumulation was negligible. A transient in side-negative potential gradient enhanced the $Na^+-driven$ uptake of taurine into the tissue slices, suggesting that the transport process is electrogenic, $Na^+-driven$ taurine uptake was saturable with an estimated $V_{max}$ of $111\;{\pm}\;20.2\;nmole/g/15\;min$ and a $K_M\;of\;99.8{\pm}29.9\;{\mu}M$. The estimated coupling ratio of $Na^+$ and taurine was $1.80\;{\pm}\;0.122.$ $Na^+-dependent$ taurine uptake was significantly inhibited by ${\beta}-amino$ acids, but not by ${\alpha}-amino$ acids, indicating that the transporter is selective for ${\beta}-amino$ acids. Since it is known that the physiological concentration of taurine in the CSF is lower than that in the plasma, the active transport system we characterized may face the brush border (i.e., CSF facing) side of the choroid plexus and actively transport taurine out of the CSF. Therefore, we examined in vivo elimination of taurine from the CSF in the rat to determine whether elimination kinetics of taurine from the CSF is consistent with the in vitro study. Using a stereotaxic device, cannulaes were placed into the lateral ventricle and the cisterna magna of the rat. Radio-labelled taurine and inulin (a marker of CSF flow) were injected into the lateral ventricle, and the concentrations of the labelled compounds in the CSF were monitored for upto 3 hrs in the cisterna magna. The apparent clearance of taurine from CSF was greater than the estimated CSF flow (p<0.005) indicating that there is a clearance process in addition to the CSF flow. Taurine distribution into the choroid plexus was at least 10 fold higher than that found in other brain areas (e. g., cerebellum, olfactory bulb and cortex). When unlabelled taurine was co-administered with radio-labelled taurine, the apparent clearance of taurine was reduced (p<0.0l), suggesting a saturable disposition of taurine from CSF. Distribution of taurine into the choroid plexus, cerebellum, olfactory bulb and cortex was similarly diminished, indicating that the saturable uptake of taurine into these tissues is responsible for the non-linear disposition. A pharmacokinetic model involving first order elimination and saturable distribution described these data adequately. The Michaelis-Menten rate constant estimated from in vivo elimination study is similar to that obtained in the in vitro uptake experiment. Collectively, our results demonstrate that taurine is transported in the choroid plexus via a $Na^+-dependent,saturable$ and apparently ${\beta}-amino$ acid selective mechanism. This process may be functionally relevant to taurine homeostasis in the brain.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.323-328
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• 2005

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the bioequivalence of two torasemide tablets, Torem tablet (Roche Korea Co., Ltd., Korea, reference drug) and Boryung Torsemide tablet (Boryung Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Korea, test drug), according to the guidelines of Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). After adding an internal standard (furosemide) to human serum, serum samples were extracted using 5 mL of ethyl acetate. Compounds were analyzed by reverse-phase HPLC method with UV detection. This method showed linear response over the concentration range of 0.05 ug/mL with correlation coefficient of 0.999. The lower limit of quantitation using 0.5 mL of serum was 0.05 ug/mL which was sensitive enough for pharmacokinetic studies. Twenty-eight healthy male Korean volunteers received each medicine at the torasemide dose of 20 mg in a $2{\times}2$ crossover study. There was a one-week washout period between the doses. Serum concentrations of torasemide were monitored by an HPLC-UV for over a period of 12 hr after the administration. $AUC_{t}$(the area under the serum concentration-time curve from time zero to 12 hr) was calculated by the linear trapezoidal rule method. $C_{max}$ (maximum serum drug concentration) and $T_{max}$ (time to reach $C_{max}$) were compiled from the serum concentration-time data. Analysis of variance was carried out using logarithmically transformed $AUC_{t}$ and $C_{max}$. No significant sequence effect was found for all of the bioavailability parameters indicating that the crossover design was properly performed. The 90% confidence intervals of the $AUC_{t}$ ratio and the $C_{max}$ ratio for Boryung Torsemide/Torem were log 0.97-10g 1.03 and log 0.93log 1.12, respectively. These values were within the acceptable bioequivalence intervals of log 0.80-log 1.25. Thus, the criteria of the KFDA guidelines for the bioequivalence was satisfied, indicating Boryung Torsemide tablet and Torem tablet are bioequivalent.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.70-81
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• 2000

DA-5018 is a synthetic capsaicin derivative under development as a non-narcotic a analgesic ag$\varepsilon$nt. DA-50 18 showed a potent analgesic activity against acute and chronic pain m model(Tablel, 2.), but it had a narrow margin of safety. DA-5018 did not bind to opioid(${\kappa}, {\delta}, {\mu}$), NKl, CGRP receptors in vitro and its analgesic effect was not antagonized by naloxone, a and it did not develop analgesic tolerance. In addition DA-5018 had no inhibitory effects against c cyclooxygenase and 5-lipooxygenase activities. DA-5018 significantly increased the relcase of substance P from the slices of the rat spinal cord. These results suggest that DA-50 18 is not a narcotic nor aspirin-like analgesic and the release of substance P is one of analgesic mechanism of action of DA-5018. We found that DA-5018 was almost ten times more potent and was at l least IOO-times less irritable compared to capsaicin. Accordingly development of topical formula was adopted. Topical formula was desiged and screened by flux test of DA-5018 using hairless mouse skin and several formulas were selected. With these topical formulas we a assessed the analgesic efficacy and carried out the toxicity, skin irritation and pharmacokinetic studies. In streptozotocin-induced hyperalgesic rat and 50 % galactose-fed hyperalgesic rat as diabetic pain models, DA-5018 cream increased the pain thresh이ds up to 77.0% and 24.4% respectively, while Zostrix-HP(capsaicin cream) incr$\varepsilon$as cd by 65.9% and 21.0%. DA-5018 c cream showed a good analgesic effect as welI in FCA-induced arthritic rat. DA-5018 cream did not show any toxicological signs in acute and chronic toxicity test and had little skin irritation in car swclIing and scratching t$\varepsilon$st. Pharmacokinetics of DA-50 18 were studied after topical application of ${14}^C$-Iabelled or unlabelIed DA-5018 cream. Plasma and skin concentrations c except applied skin wcre below the dctection limit and after 7-day cummulative application, plasma concentrations were also below detection limit DA-50 18 may have an advantag$\varepsilon$ ov$\varepsilon$r c capsaicin and is now being developed as a topical agent for the treatment of pains. DA-50 18 cream was approved for Korean IND and is now under a Phase II clinical study for arthritic pain a after finising Phase I study. DA-50 18 was also liscensed out to Stiefel Company in America in

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 1999

Background: The current maximal recommended doses of lidocaine are 7 mg/kg with $5\;{\mu}g/ml$ of epinephrine. But in clinical practice, sometimes more doses of lidocaine are required to produce adequate regional anesthesia. Method: Twenty-two healthy women patients were divided into two groups and pretreated with valium 5 mg p.o., morphine 5 mg i.m., and midazolam 2 mg i.v. before operation. Of these, 7 mg/kg of 2% lidocaine with $5\;{\mu}g/ml$ of epinephrine were given to 11 patients epidurally. Initial 3 ml of epinephrine mixed lidocaine was given as a test dose and remaining doses were given 5 ml/30 sec with 3 min intervals. Radial arterial blood were drawn at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 min to measure plasma lidocaine concentrations. After confirming all of the peak plasma concentrations of 7 mg/kg lidocaine were absolutely under $5\;{\mu}g/ml$, the other 11 patients were given 10 mg/kg of 2% lidocaine with $5\;{\mu}g/ml$ of epinephrine epidurally and blood samplings were taken according to the same method of 7 mg/kg group. The peak plasma concentration ($C_{max}$), time to reach to $C_{max}$ ($T_{max}$), time to reach to $T_4$, maximal sensory block level, systemic toxicity, and vital sign changes were investigated. Result: $C_{max}$ was significantly higher in 10 mg/kg group ($5.1{\pm}1.3\;{\mu}g/ml$) than 7 mg/kg group($3.3{\pm}0.5\;{\mu}g/ml$), but $T_{max}$ ($10.5{\pm}2.7$ min vs $10.9{\pm}3.1$ min) was not different. Time to reach $T_4$ was significantly shorter in 10 mg/kg group ($9.5{\pm}2.7$ min) than 7 mg/kg group ($12.7{\pm}3.2$ min) but maximal sensory block level ($T_{3.7{\pm}0.7}$ vs $T_{2.7{\pm}1.0}$) was not different. In four patients of 10 mg/kg group, peak plasma concentrations exceeded $5\;{\mu}g/ml$, but no systemic toxicities appeared. No significant vital sign changes were observed. Conclusion: The current maximal recommended doses of lidocaine, merely based on body weight are not always appropriate. Further studies are needed to determine more precise guideline of maximal doses that include various pharmacokinetic components.