Frontiers in Pharmacology (Jun 2019)

Metabolism of IMM-H004 and Its Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Analysis in Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injured Rats

  • Ziqian Zhang,
  • Dandan Liu,
  • Dandan Liu,
  • Jianwei Jiang,
  • Jianwei Jiang,
  • Xiuyun Song,
  • Xiaowen Zou,
  • Shifeng Chu,
  • Kebo Xie,
  • Jungui Dai,
  • Naihong Chen,
  • Li Sheng,
  • Yan Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2019.00631
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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IMM-H004, a derivative of coumarin, is a promising candidate for the treatment of cerebral ischemia. The pharmacodynamic mechanisms of IMM-H004 are still under exploration. The present study was conducted to explore the pharmacoactive substances of IMM-H004 from the perspective of drug metabolism. Four metabolites of IMM-H004 including demethylated metabolites M1 and M2, glucuronide conjugate IMM-H004G (M3), and sulfated conjugate M4 were found in rats in vivo. IMM-H004G was the major metabolite in rats and cultured human hepatocytes, and uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) was found to catalyze the metabolism of IMM-H004 in human liver microsomes (HLMs) and rat liver microsomes (RLMs) with high capacity (Vmax at 3.25 and 5.04 nmol/min/mg protein). Among 13 recombinant human UGT isoforms, UGT1A7, 1A9, 1A8, and 1A1 appeared to be primarily responsible for IMM-H004G formation. The exposure and duration of IMM-H004G (28,948 h × ng/ml of area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC), 6.61 h of t1/2β) was much higher than that of the parent drug (1,638 h × ng/ml of AUC, 0.42 h of t1/2β) in transient middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) rats, consistent with the malondialdehyde (MDA) inhibition effect for at least 10 h. Further pharmacological study revealed that IMM-H004G exhibited a similar neuroprotective activity to that of the parent drug on both oxygen-glucose deprivation injured PC12 cells and transient MCAO/R injured rats. These results demonstrate that both prototype and IMM-H004G are the active pharmaceutical substances, and IMM-H004G, at least in part, contributes to the maintenance of anti-cerebral ischemia efficacy of IMM-H004.

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