Pharmacokinetics of pyridostigmine in dogs

In vitro metabolism and interactions of pyridostigmine bromide, N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, and permethrin in human plasma and liver microsomal enzymes

1. The in vitro human plasma activity and liver microsomal metabolism of pyridostigmine bromide (PB), a prophylactic treatment against organophosphate nerve agent attack, N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET), an insect repellent, and permethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide, either alone or in combination were investigated. 2. The three chemicals disappeared from plasma in the following order: permethrin > PB > DEET. The combined incubation of DEET with either permethrin or PB had no effect on permethrin or PB. Binary incubation with permethrin decreased the metabolism of PB and its disappearance from plasma and binary incubation with PB decreased the metabolism of permethrin and its clearance from plasma. Incubation with PB and/or permethrin shortened the DEET terminal half-life in plasma. These agents behaved similarly when studied in liver microsomal assays. The combined incubation of DEET with PB or permethrin (alone or in combination) diminished DEET metabolism in microsomal systems. 3. The present study evidences that PB and permethrin are metabolized by both human plasma and liver microsomal enzymes and that DEET is mainly metabolized by liver oxidase enzymes. Combined exposure to test chemicals increases their neurotoxicity by impeding the body's ability to eliminate them because of the competition for detoxifying enzymes.

Review article: the pharmacological treatment of acute colonic pseudo-obstruction

Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction (Ogilvie's syndrome) can be defined as a clinical condition with symptoms, signs and radiological appearance of acute large bowel obstruction unrelated to any mechanical cause. Recent reports of the efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors in relieving acute colonic pseudo-obstruction have fuelled interest in the pharmacological treatment of this condition. The aim of the present review is to outline current perspectives in the pharmacological treatment of patients with acute colonic pseudo-obstruction. The best documented pharmacological treatment of Ogilvie's syndrome is intravenous neostigmine (2-2.5 mg), which leads to quick decompression in a significant proportion of patients after a single infusion. However, the search for new colokinetic agents for the treatment of lower gut motor disorders has made available a number of drugs that may also be therapeutic options for Ogilvie's syndrome. Among these agents, the potential of 5-hydroxytryptamine-4 receptor agonists and motilin receptor agonists is discussed.

Pharmacodynamic analysis of contractile potentiation by cholinesterase inhibitors in rats

Pharmacological profiles of four cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitors: edrophonium, pyridostigmine, neostigmine, and ambenonium after to administration to rats were analyzed. A pharmacodynamic model was developed by considering acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition, direct antagonism to the nicotinic receptor, and desensitization of the nicotinic receptor. Pharmacokinetics of these drugs are dose-independent and have similar volumes of distribution at steady state (0.4-0.6 L/kg various doses). The t1/2 increases in the order of neostigmine, edrophonium, pyridostigmine, and ambenonium. Inhibitory constants of ChE inhibitors to bovine erythrocyte AChE determined in vitro were 2019, 276, 26, and 3.7 nM for edrophonium, pyridostigmine, neostigmine, and ambenonium, respectively. The effect of ChE inhibitor was monitored as the increase of developed tension of triceps muscle induced by sciatic nerve stimulation. The maximum value of contractile tension after i.v. administration decreased at high doses of each drug and the dose-response curves were biphasic. Time courses of plasma concentration and contractile muscle tension were modeled to estimate the association/dissociation rate constants to AChE and the nicotinic receptor, desensitization rate constant of receptor and the dissociation constant of acetylcholine (ACh) to nicotinic receptor/basal acetylcholine level ratio (Kd/ACh0). The estimated Kd/ACh0 values were not dependent on the drug. A significant correlation between inhibitory constants of ChE inhibitors to AChE estimated by in vivo pharmacodynamic analysis and those determined by an in vitro enzyme kinetic study was shown, while the relationship between dissociation constants to nicotinic receptor estimated by in vivo pharmacodynamic analysis and those measured by an in vitro binding study was not clear. Other process such as desensitisization induced by endogenous ACh diffusion rate of drugs into the synaptic cleft, action of presynaptic receptors, etc., might contribute to the dose-effect relationship of ChE inhibitors.