In vivo and in vitro pharmacokinetics of 4,6-benzylidene-D-glucose (BG) in rats

Summary

In vivo pharmacokinetics of 4,6-benzylidene-D-glucose (BG) was investigated in rats following an i.v. bolus injection of 85 mg BG/kg body weight. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to characterize and quantitate BG in whole blood or serum samples. It was found that BG rapidly disappeared with a half-life (t_1/2)on the order of 10 min. At the same time a metabolite appeared which eluted before the double isomer peaks of BG. It increased in concentration from 0 to 30 min after initial i.v. injection of BG. Thereafter the metabolite was slowly removed or cleared from the animals. The t_1/2 of the metabolite calculated from the time of maximum concentration was found to be about 1 h. BG was also metabolized by whole rat blood at 37°C, but on a different time scale in vitro. The t_1/2 of BG in the in vitro assays was now about 4 h, as compared to 10 min in vivo. BG was not metabolized in rat plasma or rat serum. In contrast to in vivo data, the metabolite of BG was not reduced upon further incubation, but remained in blood samples with no reduction for at least 24 h. In addition, we found that protein synthesis was inhibited by approximately 50% when isolated rat hepatocytes were incubated with 3.2 mM BG. BG was slowly metabolized by hepatocytes to produce a metabolite indistinguishable (by HPLC) from that found in blood samples. Analysis of the metabolite by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) methods identified it as being 1,3-benzylidene-D-glucitol. An intracellular reduction of BG by aldose reductase is proposed to occur.