Context
Alpinetin, the major active constitutes of
Alpinia katsumata
Hayata (Zingiberaceae), has been demonstrated to possess the activity of anti-breast cancer. Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP450s) plays vital roles in the biotransformation of various drugs.
Objective
To assess the effect of alpinetin on the activity of CYP450s and estimate the inhibition characteristics.
Materials and methods
The activity of CYP450s was evaluated in pooled human liver microsomes with corresponding substrates and marker reactions. The effect of alpinetin was compared with blank control (negative control) and corresponding inhibitors (positive control). The dose-dependent and time-dependent experiments were conducted in the presence of 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 μM alpinetin and incubated for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 30 min.
Results
Alpinetin suppressed CYP3A4, 2C9, and 2E1 activity. All the inhibitions were significantly influenced by alpinetin contration with the IC
50
values of 8.23 μM (CYP3A4), 12.64 μM (CYP2C9), and 10.97 μM (CYP2E1), respectively. The inhibition of CYP3A4 was fitted with the non-competitive model with a
Ki
value of 4.09 μM and was time-dependent with
KI
and
Kinact
values of 4.67 min and 0.041 μM
−1
, respectively. While CYP2C9 and 2E1 were inhibited by alpinetin competitively with
Ki
values of 6.42 (CYP2C9) and 5.40 μM (CYP2E1), respectively, in a time-independent manner.
Discussion and conclusion
The
in vitro
inhibitory effect of alpineticn on CYP3A, 2C9, and 2E1 implied the potential interaction of alpinetin or its origin herbs with the drugs metabolised by those CYP450s, which needs further
in vivo
validation.