Bupropion, widely used as an antidepressant and smoking cessation aid, undergoes complex metabolism to yield numerous metabolites with unique disposition, effect, and drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in humans. The stereoselective plasma and urinary pharmacokinetics of bupropion and its metabolites were evaluated to understand their potential contributions to bupropion effects. Healthy human volunteers (n 5 15) were administered a single oral dose of racemic bupropion (100 mg), which was followed by collection of plasma and urine samples and determination of bupropion and metabolite concentrations using novel liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assays. Time-dependent, elimination rate-limited, stereoselective pharmacokinetics were observed for all bupropion metabolites. Area under the plasma concentration-time curve from zero to infinity ratios were on average approximately 65, 6, 6, and 4 and C max ratios were approximately 35, 6, 3, and 0.5 for (2R,3R)-/(2S,3S)-hydroxybupropion, R-/S-bupropion, (1S,2R)-/(1R,2S)-erythrohydrobupropion, and (1R,2R)-/(1S,2S)-threohydrobupropion, respectively. The R-/S-bupropion and (1R,2R)-/(1S,2S)-threohydrobupropion ratios are likely indicative of higher presystemic metabolism of S-versus R-bupropion by carbonyl reductases. Interestingly, the apparent renal clearance of (2S,3S)-hydroxybupropion was almost 10-fold higher than that of (2R,3R)-hydroxybupropion. The prediction of steadystate pharmacokinetics demonstrated differential stereospecific accumulation [partial area under the plasma concentration-time curve after the final simulated bupropion dose (300-312 hours) from 185 to 37,447 nM×h] and elimination [terminal half-life of approximately 7-46 hours] of bupropion metabolites, which may explain observed stereoselective differences in bupropion effect and DDI risk with CYP2D6 at steady state. Further elucidation of bupropion and metabolite disposition suggests that bupropion is not a reliable in vivo marker of CYP2B6 activity. In summary, to our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive report to provide novel insight into mechanisms underlying bupropion disposition by detailing the stereoselective pharmacokinetics of individual bupropion metabolites, which will enhance clinical understanding of bupropion's effects and DDIs with CYP2D6.

Bupropion is a widely used antidepressant and smoking cessation aid in addition to being one of two US Food and Drug Administration-recommended probe substrates for evaluation of cytochrome P450 2B6 activity. Racemic bupropion undergoes oxidative and reductive metabolism, producing a complex profile of pharmacologically active metabolites with relatively little known about the mechanisms underlying their elimination. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay was developed to simultaneously separate and detect glucuronide metabolites of (R,R)-and (S,S)-hydroxybupropion, (R,R)-and (S,S)-hydrobupropion (threo) and (S,R)-and (R,S)-hydrobupropion (erythro), in human urine and liver subcellular fractions to begin exploring mechanisms underlying enantioselective metabolism and elimination of bupropion metabolites. Human liver microsomal data revealed marked glucuronidation stereoselectivity [Cl int , 11.4 versus 4.3 ml/min per milligram for the formation of (R,R)-and (S,S)-hydroxybupropion glucuronide; and Cl max , 7.7 versus 1.1 ml/min per milligram for the formation of (R,R)-and (S,S)-hydrobupropion glucuronide], in concurrence with observed enantioselective urinary elimination of bupropion glucuronide conjugates. Approximately 10% of the administered bupropion dose was recovered in the urine as metabolites with glucuronide metabolites, accounting for approximately 40%, 15%, and 7% of the total excreted hydroxybupropion, erythrohydrobupropion, and threo-hydrobupropion, respectively. Elimination pathways were further characterized using an expressed UDP-glucuronosyl transferase (UGT) panel with bupropion enantiomers (both individual and racemic) as substrates. UGT2B7 catalyzed the stereoselective formation of glucuronides of hydroxybupropion, (S,S)-hydrobupropion, (S,R)-and (R,S)-hydrobupropion; UGT1A9 catalyzed the formation of (R,R)-hydrobupropion glucuronide. These data systematically describe the metabolic pathways underlying bupropion metabolite disposition and significantly expand our knowledge of potential contributors to the interindividual and intraindividual variability in therapeutic and toxic effects of bupropion in humans.

Efavirenz pharmacokinetics is characterized by large between-subject variability, which determines both therapeutic response and adverse effects. Some of the variability in efavirenz pharmacokinetics has been attributed to genetic variability in cytochrome P450 genes that alter efavirenz metabolism, such as CYP2B6 and CYP2A6. While the effects of additional patient factors have been studied, such as sex, weight, and body mass index, the extent to which they contribute to variability in efavirenz exposure is inconsistently reported. The aim of this analysis was to develop a pharmacometric model to quantify the contribution of genetic and nongenetic factors to efavirenz pharmacokinetics. A population-based pharmacokinetic model was developed using 1,132 plasma efavirenz concentrations obtained from 73 HIV-seronegative volunteers administered a single oral dose of 600 mg efavirenz. A two-compartment structural model with absorption occurring by zero-and firstorder processes described the data. Allometric scaling adequately described the relationship between fat-free mass and apparent oral clearance, as well as fat mass and apparent peripheral volume of distribution. Inclusion of fat-free mass and fat mass in the model mechanistically accounted for correlation between these disposition parameters and sex, weight, and body mass index. Apparent oral clearance of efavirenz was reduced by 25% and 51% in subjects predicted to have intermediate and slow CYP2B6 metabolizer status, respectively. The final pharmacokinetic model accounting for fat-free mass, fat mass, and CYP2B6 metabolizer status was consistent with known mechanisms of efavirenz disposition, efavirenz physiochemical properties, and pharmacokinetic theory. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under identifier NCT00668395.) KEYWORDS body composition, cytochrome P450 2B6 (CYP2B6), efavirenz, population pharmacokinetics E favirenz is a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor that is used in combination with nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors to treat HIVinfected individuals older than 3 years who are naive to antiretroviral drugs. Due to its proven efficacy and low cost relative to newer antiretrovirals, efavirenz-based therapy remains the preferred first-line regimen in many low-income nations and is consequently one of the most commonly prescribed antiretroviral drugs (1). Efavirenz pharmacokinetics (PK) is characterized by large interindividual variability in plasma concentrations following a single dose (2, 3) and during chronic administration (4), which has important clinical implications. During the induction phase, efavirenz exposure is associated with central nervous system and psychiatric adverse events, liver enzyme elevation, and rash, among others (5, 6). This may result in increasing rates of

Montelukast has been recommended as a selective in vitro and in vivo probe of cytochrome P450 (P450) CYP2C8 activity, but its selectivity toward this enzyme remains unclear. We performed detailed characterization of montelukast metabolism in vitro using human liver microsomes (HLMs), expressed P450s, and uridine 59-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). Kinetic and inhibition experiments performed at therapeutically relevant concentrations reveal that CYP2C8 and CYP2C9 are the principal enzymes responsible for montelukast 36-hydroxylation to 1,2-diol. CYP3A4 was the main catalyst of montelukast sulfoxidation and stereoselective 21-hydroxylation, and multiple P450s participated in montelukast 25-hydroxylation. We confirmed direct glucuronidation of montelukast to an acyl-glucuronide. We also identified a novel peak that appears consistent with an etherglucuronide. Kinetic analysis in HLMs and experiments in expressed UGTs indicate that both metabolites were exclusively formed by UGT1A3. Comparison of in vitro intrinsic clearance in HLMs suggest that direct glucuronidation may play a greater role in the overall metabolism of montelukast than does P450-mediated oxidation, but the in vivo contribution of UGT1A3 needs further testing. In conclusion, our in vitro findings provide new insight toward montelukast metabolism. The utility of montelukast as a probe of CYP2C8 activity may be compromised owing to involvement of multiple P450s and UGT1A3 in its metabolism.