Amosulalol hydrochloride is a combined a-and b-blocker that was selected from a series of sulphonamide-substituted phenylethylamines. It blocks both postsynaptic a 1 -and b 1 -adrenoceptors to almost the same extent. When administered to conscious, spontaneously hypertensive rats, it reduces blood pressure via its a 1 -blocking activity without causing reflex tachycardia because of its b 1 -blocking action.1) This drug exhibited dose-dependent hypotensive effects in healthy volunteers, 2) and is used for the treatment of essential hypertension.3) In contrast to a structurally related a-and bblocker, labetalol, 4) amosulalol's first-pass metabolism was almost negligible in humans.2) However, this drug was extensively metabolized in laboratory animals 5) yielding an order of total body clearance as follows: rats>dogs>monkeys>hu-mans. 2,6) The metabolites found in these animals were derived through the hydroxylation (M-1, M-3, M-4), demethylation (M-2), and oxidative cleavage of the C-N bond (M-5). Some of them were subsequently conjugated to their glucuronides or sulfates. In humans, only the sulfate of M-3 was quantified as the urinary metabolite. 7) In the present study, pharmacokinetic and metabolic studies of amosulalol hydrochloride in mice were undertaken, with amosulalol carbamoyl glucuronide being reported as a new amosulalol metabolite found in bile.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
ChemicalsAmosulalol hydrochloride and its metabolites, M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4 and M-6 (desmethyl metabolite at o-methoxyphenoxy group of M-1), were supplied by the Chemistry Laboratories of Astellas Pharma Inc. (Ibaraki, Japan). M-5 (o-methoxyphenoxy acetic acid) was purchased from Tokyo Kasei (Tokyo, Japan). 14 C-Amosulalol hydrochloride, labelled at both of the carbons in the ethyl group of the o-methoxyphenoxy ethyl moiety, was synthesized in our laboratories.8) All other reagents were of analytical grade. Animal Studies Male ICR mice (4-7 weeks) were purchased from Charles River Laboratories Japan or CLEA Japan, and used after a one-week period of acclimatization.Amosulalol hydrochloride was administered intravenously as a solution in saline and orally as an aqueous solution. Mice were fasted overnight before oral administration, and fed 4 h after dosing. Blood samples were taken from the inferior vena cava with heparinized syringes under diethyl ether anesthesia, and each animal was sacrificed at each sampling point. For urine and fecal sample collection, animals were kept in glass metabolic cages for 24 or 48 h after dosing. For the metabolite identification, bile samples were obtained from bile duct-cannulated mice during hours 0 and 24 after dosing. This research was conducted in accordance with the "Principles of Laboratory Animal Care" (NIH publication #85-23, revised 1985).Determination of Radioactivity The urine collected was diluted 10-fold with distilled water. Aquaol-2 (10 ml, New England Nuclear) was then added to a 0.1-ml aliquot of the diluted sample. In addition, about 100 mg of dried feces was combusted in a sample oxidiz...