title: Effects of lovastatin on the pharmacokinetics of nicardipine in rats.
abstract: It has been reported that both nicardipine and lovastatin are substrates of both the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A subfamily and P-glycoprotein (P-gp), and P-gp transport is unlikely to be a significant factor. Thus, the effects of oral lovastatin on the pharmacokinetics of intravenous and oral nicardipine were investigated in rats. Nicardipine was administered intravenously (4 mg/kg) and orally (12 mg/kg) with 0 (control), 0.3 and 1 mg/kg of oral lovastatin to rats. Lovastatin was administered 30 min before nicardipine administration. After intravenous administration of nicardipine with 0, 0.3 and 1  mg/kg of lovastatin, the total areas under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity (AUCs) of nicardipine were not changed by lovastatin. However, after oral administration of nicardipine with 1 mg/kg of oral lovastatin, the AUC of nicardipine was significantly greater (by 67.4%), and the extent of absolute oral bioavailability (F) of nicardipine was increased (by 38.5%). The above data suggest that lovastatin did not considerably inhibit the metabolism of nicardipine via the hepatic CYP3A subfamily, but inhibited intestinal P-gp and/or the CYP3A subfamily.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Chosun University, Dong-Gu, Gwangju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Joong-W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Si H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jun-S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001682:Biological Availability; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A / Q000097:blood; D065692:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008148:Lovastatin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009529:Nicardipine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D065692:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D008148:Lovastatin; D009529:Nicardipine; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A; C510163:CYP3A4 protein, human