The successful lowering of the intracellular concentration of multidrug resistance (MDR)-type drugs by P-glycoprotein (Pgp) relies on its ability to overcome the passive influx rate of each MDR-type drug. Thus, the aim of the present work was to study the effect of passive transbilayer drug movement on the multidrug resistance and its modulation. Fluorescence quenching studies indicated that whereas the Pgp substrate rhodamine 123 traverses an artificial lipid membrane with a lifetime of 3 min, the transbilayer movement rate of the MDR modulators, quinidine and quinine, was too fast to be detected with present methods. Transbilayer movement rates of drugs and modulators were estimated from their equilibration rate throughout artificial multilamellar vesicles. The equilibration rate of five selected modulators was faster than the equilibration rate of five representative MDR-type drugs tested, which was comparable with the rate of rhodamine 123 equilibration. Moreover, the carrier-type peptide ionophore, valinomycin, which is freely mobile in the membrane, inhibited Pgp-mediated efflux of rhodamine 123 from MDR cells. In contrast, the channel-forming ionophore gramicidin D, a Pgp substrate that flip-flops slowly across the membrane, did not modulate cellular Pgp activity. Pgp, with a turnover number of about 900 min-1 can keep pace with the influx of an MDR-drug like rhodamine 123 exhibiting a transbilayer movement with a lifetime of minutes. On the other hand, Pgp would fail to protect MDR cells against cytotoxic drugs that are freely mobile through biological membranes and that re-enter cells faster than their Pgp-mediated active efflux rate. The relatively fast transbilayer movement exhibited by MDR modulators suggest that in contrast to MDR-type drugs, MDR modulators traverse the plasma membrane faster than the maximal expulsion rate of Pgp.

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between the rate of the passive transmembrane movement of multidrug resistance (MDR)-type substrates and the ability of P-glycoprotein to extrude them from MDR cells. For this purpose, seven rhodamine dyes were examined for their P-glycoprotein -mediated exclusion from MDR cells, their localization in wild-type drug-sensitive cells, their capacity to stimulate the ATPase activity of P-glycoprotein reconstituted in proteoliposomes, and their transmembrane movement rate in artificial liposomes. All these rhodamine dyes were accumulated in wild-type drug-sensitive cells and were localized mainly in the mitochondria. All the dyes tested were substrates of reconstituted P-glycoprotein and cellular P-glycoprotein and were excluded to a variable degree from MDR cells. The transmembrane movement rate proved the major factor determining the efficacy of the P-glycoprotein-mediated exclusion of rhodamine dyes from MDR cells. Thus, rhodamine B, the poorest cellular P-glycoprotein substrate, exhibited a high affinity toward reconstituted P-glycoprotein, but was the fastest membrane-traversing dye. In contrast, tetramethylrosamine, the best cellular MDR probe, exhibited high affinity toward reconstituted P-glycoprotein and slow transmembrane movement rate. Therefore, an anticancer drug with a fast transmembrane movement rate is expected to overcome the MDR phenomenon. Furthermore, the widely used MDR marker, rhodamine 123, was a poor cellular MDR substrate compared with other rhodamine dyes, especially tetramethylrosamine, which was a superior cellular MDR substrate for functional dye-exclusion studies.