Metabolism of cardiac glycosides studied in the isolated perfused guinea-pig liver

1. Metabolic degradation of tritiated ouabain, digoxin, and digitoxin has been investigated quantitatively using the isolated perfused guinea-pig liver. The cardiac glycosides and their metabolites have been extracted from the plasma, liver, and bile by different solvents and identified as far as possible by radio-chromatographic analysis.2. The total metabolic activity in the experimental system was localized in the liver.3. The hydrophilic glycoside ouabain could not penetrate into the metabolically active compartment of the liver and was, therefore, not degraded. The more lipophilic compound digitoxin, however, was completely degraded due to its high affinity for the metabolically active sites. The unchanged digitoxin cannot enter the aqueous bile fluid in contrast to its more hydrophilic metabolites.4. The only detectable metabolic degradation of digoxin was a conjugation with glucuronic and/or sulphuric acid, but a cleavage of sugar molecules seemed not to occur.5. In the case of digitoxin the metabolic processes are more complicated: sugar cleavage, conjugation, and C-12 hydroxylation take place simultaneously. An immediate hydroxylation of digitoxin leading to digoxin was not observed. After administration of digitoxin conjugation products as well as digoxigenin-bis-and digoxigenin-mono-digitoxosides were present in each of the compartments investigated, but the digitoxosides of digitoxigenin were intermediates in concentrations too low to be determined indicating a very high rate of conjugation and/or C-12 hydroxylation as compared with the cleavage of the digitoxoses.6. A scheme for the metabolic pathways of the cardiac glycosides based on experimental results is presented. The metabolic behaviour of each of the three compounds involved is closely related to their physicochemical properties, especially the lipid solubility.

Plasma concentration, uptake by liver, and biliary excretion of tritiated cardiac glycosides in the isolated perfused guinea-pig liver

1. Investigations were carried out on isolated perfused guinea-pig livers. Different doses of tritiated ouabain, digoxin, and digitoxin were added to the perfusion medium and the subsequent plasma elimination, hepatic uptake, and biliary excretion quantitatively measured. After the perfusion, extracts of liver, bile and plasma were subjected to thin layer chromatography in order to detect the radioactively labelled glycosides and their metabolites.2. The ouabain concentration in the plasma approached the equilibrium stage within 45 minutes. At this time 40% of the administered dose had been taken up by the liver, and no further elimination occurred. The elimination curve for ouabain followed a simple exponential function. After 1 h the tissue medium (T/M) ratio was approximately 3. In bile hardly any radioactivity could be detected. Ouabain was therefore not excreted by the liver.3. Up to 80% of the digitoxin was eliminated from the plasma within 4 hours. The elimination of radioactive material for the dose range studied could be described by a hyperbolic function. The T/M ratio in the liver varied with time. At the beginning it was as high as 10 and after 4 h reduced to approximately 3. After 45-60 min the concentration of radioactive material in the bile was 500 times as high as that in the plasma. Almost 70% of the administered radioactivity was excreted with the bile within 4 hours. At the end of the perfusion almost all the identifiable substances in plasma and bile were polar metabolites, as shown by thin layer radiochromatography.4. Digoxin behaved similarly to digitoxin.5. The findings led to the following hypothesis: uptake of cardiac glycosides into the liver cells occurs by a passive diffusion process and is related to their lipid solubility. On the other hand excretion in the bile occurs in general if polar metabolites are formed in the liver cells.

Electron microscopic radioautographic detection of sites of protein synthesis and migration in liver

The sites of synthesis of proteins and their subsequent migration in rat liver have been studied during a 75 min period after labeling of liver-slice proteins by exposure to leucine-H(3) for 2 min. Incorporation of the label into protein began after 1 min and was maximal by 4 min. Electron microscopic radioautography showed that synthesis of proteins in hepatocytes occurs mainly on ribosomes, particularly those in rough endoplasmic reticulum and, to some extent, in nuclei and mitochondria. Most of the newly formed proteins leave the endoplasmic reticulum in the course of 40 min, and concurrently labeled proteins appear in Golgi bodies, smooth membranes, microbodies, and lysosomes. A likely pathway for the secretion of some or all plasma proteins is from typical rough endoplasmic reticulum to a zone of reticulum which is partially coated with ribosomes, to the Golgi apparatus, and thence to the cell periphery. The formation of protein by reticuloendothelial cells was measured and found to be about 5% of the total protein formed by the liver.

Automated Determination of Free Amino Groups in Serum and Plasma Using 2,4,6-Trinitrobenzene Sulfonate

A simple automated method is described for determining the level of total free amino acids in the blood. The method utilizes the AutoAnalyzer, and is based on the formation of colored complexes by uniting free amino groups with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonate (TNBS). Proteins do not interfere because the free amino acids are first separated by dialysis. Characteristics of the reaction and potential clinical applications of the procedure are discussed.

The distribution of 3H-labelled cardenolides between isolated guinea-pig atrial tissue and circulating, oxygenated whole blood

1. An experimental method was developed that allowed the incubation of isolated organs in circulating whole blood. The circulating blood was oxygenated with a specially designed disc-oxygenator and drawn through the system by means of a roller pump.2. The method proved suitable for guinea-pig isolated atria, rabbit duodenum and to a lesser extent for chronically denervated rat diaphragm. Isolated atria could be kept for several hours. Various parameters of the circulating blood (haemolysis, pH, O(2) saturation, concentration of electrolytes) remained satisfactory for at least 5 hr. The method proved convenient for pharmacological and kinetic studies on isolated organs, suspended in whole blood of the corresponding species. The organs showed normal spontaneous mechanical activity and also responded to electrical stimuli and various drugs.3. The uptake of (3)H-labelled ouabain, digoxin, digitoxin and digitoxigenin was studied in guinea-pig isolated atria, suspended in circulating blood. The uptake reached equilibrium after 60-90 min. With respect to the total serum radio-activity the "apparent" tissue/medium (T/M) ratios obtained for the four drugs were within the range 0.4-1.1. If, however, the amount of free, non protein bound drug was taken as a base for the calculations, the following "true" T/M ratios were obtained: (3)H-ouabain 0.45; (3)H-digoxin 1.6; digitoxin 8.8; digitoxigenin 8.4. These values are virtually the same as those obtained with atria, suspended in an aqueous medium. Obviously, the uptake of (3)H-cardenolides from whole blood is determined by the amount of free non-protein-bound drug.4. (3)H-digitoxin and (3)H-digitoxigenin were taken up by guinea-pig erythrocytes to a small extent. No measurable amounts of (3)H-ouabain and (3)H-digoxin were taken up by erythrocytes.