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From the * Institute of Molecular Toxicology and
Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, and the
Institute of Molecular Pathology, 1st
Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China;
Population Council and Rockefeller University,
New York, NY; and
Bioprogress Pharmaceuticals
S.p.A., Rome, Italy.
| Correspondence to: Ren-Shan Ge or C. Yan Cheng, Population Council, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 (e-mail: rge{at}popcbr.rockefeller.edu or Y-Cheng{at}popcbr.rockefeller.edu). |
| Received for publication January 17, 2008; accepted for publication September 10, 2008. |
| Abstract |
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Key words: Male contraception, testis, Sertoli-germ cell adhesion
| Materials and Methods |
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Animal Treatment![]()
Adult male rabbits were divided into 3 groups: vehicle control, 25 mg/kg
per week intravenous administration, and 25 mg/kg per week oral
administration. The 25 mg/kg per week dose was selected based on the minimal
effective dose of gavage in rats (Cheng et
al, 2001). All animals were housed at Wenzhou Medical College
Laboratory Animal Research Center. All experimental procedures and protocols
were reviewed and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Wenzhou
Medical College and were in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals. Rabbits were individually housed and maintained with water
and standard rabbit feed ad libitum. Control animals were treated with
intravenous injection ethanol/DMSO (2:1, vol/vol) solution. Animals were
treated intravenously or orally with 25 mg/kg per week adjudin (1 injection
each week) for 4 consecutive weeks. Some animals were housed for an additional
4 weeks after cessation of intravenous or oral treatment. Blood samples
(0.5
1 mL) were directly collected into the heparinized tube from the
marginal ear vein at predetermined times before or after the first
administration of adjudin and centrifuged at 800 x g for 10
minutes. Plasma samples were stored at –20°C for further
analysis.
Sample Preparation and HPLC Detection of Adjudin![]()
The plasma concentrations of adjudin were measured using reversed-phase
HPLC and a diode array detector (DAD). Adjudin and the internal standard
(carbamazepine, 160 ng) were extracted twice from 300 µL plasma by mixing
with an organic solvent (n-hexane to acetoacetate, 4:1, vol/vol) and
centrifugation at 2500 x g for 5 minutes. After evaporation of
the solvent under nitrogen gas at 50°C, the residue was reconstituted in
mobile phase A (100 µL), and a 40-µL aliquot was injected.
Chromatographic separations were performed by an Agilent HPLC system (Agilent,
Santa Clara, California) equipped with a quaternary pump and autosampler
coupled to a DAD detector (G1315). Chromatographic separations were achieved
on an XDB-C-18 column (inner diameter, 4.5x150 mm; particle size 5
µm; Agilent). The mobile phases used were: phase A solution with
acetonitrile, water, and trifluoroacetic acid at 5:95:0.1 (vol/vol/vol), and
phase B solution with acetonitrile, water, and trifluoroacetic acid at
95:5:0.1 (vol/vol/vol) operated under isocratic conditions at a flow rate of
1.0 mL/min at 30°C with following A and B ratios: 0–3.5 minutes, A/B
= 66:34; 3.5–5.5 minutes, A/B = 60:40; and 5.5–7.5 minutes, A/B =
40:60. Adjudin and internal standard were detected at 302 nm. Carbamazepine
and adjudin were separated with different retention times
(Figure 1). Calibration
standards of adjudin were prepared by serial dilution to obtain concentrations
0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 µg/mL
(Figure 2). Stock solutions
were prepared weekly throughout the validation period and on each day of
sample analysis. Calibration curves were prepared by spiking blank plasma.
Calibration curves were linear over the range 0.15 to 20 µL/mL (r
= 0.99) (Figure 2). Adjudin
quality control samples corresponding to low, medium, and high concentrations
on the calibration curve were 0.25, 1, and 5 µL/mL, respectively. The
intra-assay coefficients of variation at 0.25, 1, and 5 mg/L of adjudin were
3.15%, 2.88%, and 1.04% (n = 5), respectively. The interassay coefficients of
variation at the above concentrations were 7.41%, 11.21%, and 3.55% (n = 5 in
all cases), respectively. The method is selective for adjudin, with no
interference from other plasma components. The recoveries of 0.25, 1, and 5
mg/L are listed in Table 1.
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Histologic Procedures![]()
The animals were anesthetized by 25% ethyl carbamate (4 mL/kg), and testes
were removed immediately at specified time points after adjudin treatment.
Testes and epididymedes were examined by light microscopy to assess the status
of spermatogenesis. In brief, 6-µm–thick cross sections were prepared
and mounted on glass slides and stained with hematoxyslin and eosin.
Data Processing![]()
Following intravenous or oral administration, the adjudin plasma
concentration-time data were fitted to any compartmental models (Drug and
Statistics, version 2.0, Clinical and Drug Research Center, Anhui, China),
which were then used to calculate different pharmacokinetics parameters with
the noncompartment model. All pharmacokinetics parameters were summarized
using descriptive statistics. The 95% confidence intervals for the differences
between the means of the pharmacokinetics parameters were calculated using the
commercially available computer program Confidence Interval Analysis
(Altman et al, 2000).
| Results |
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Concentrations of adjudin in rabbit plasma peaked at 7.669 mg/L 15 minutes
after a single intravenous injection of 25 mg/kg adjudin. The plasma adjudin
level declined rapidly thereafter, and it became undetectable in rabbits
within 24 hours. The mean plasma concentration-time profile for intravenous
administration was best described by a 2-compartment curve
(Figure 3). Pharmacokinetics
parameters of adjudin based on the curves are shown in
Table 2. The overall
elimination constant (k21) was 2.363 ± 2.062 h–1, and
the terminal half-life (t
β) of adjudin was 2.284 ± 0.599
hours. This proved that adjudin was rapidly distributed to peripheral tissues.
We calculated the area under the curve (AUC), maximum concentration
(Cmax), and time to maximum concentration (tmax) for
rats treated orally with the same doses of adjudin as for intravenous
injection. The AUC results showed that oral administration is about 8.055%
± 1.453% as effective as intravenous injection
(Table 2;
Figure 3A vs 3B). Moreover, the
t
β (5.645 ± 1.512 hours) of adjudin in the systemic
circulation after gavage administration was longer than that of intravenous
administration (2.284 ± 0.599 hours;
Table 2), showing that
orally-administered adjudin had a slower clearance rate.
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Efficacy of Adjudin![]()
The efficacy of adjudin in depleting germ cells from the seminiferous
epithelium of rabbit testes versus normal rabbits
(Figure 4A) was evaluated by
histologic analysis of testis and epididymis sections. About 70% of tubules
were devoid of sperm 2 weeks after intravenous administration of adjudin
(Figure 4B). Four weeks after
intravenous treatment, more than 95% of round and elongate spermatids and more
than 50% of spermatocytes had disappeared
(Figure 4C). Sperm numbers in
the epididymis were significantly reduced after 2 weeks of intravenous
treatment versus control (normal) rabbits
(Figure 5A, B). No sperm except
some cellular debris were found in the epididymis after 4 weeks of intravenous
administration (Figure 5C).
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The effects of the 4-week oral administration were comparable to those of the 2-week intravenous administration, as shown in Figure 4D, and sperm numbers in the epididymis section (Figure 5D). This suggests that oral administration is far less effective than intravenous administration.
Systemic Toxicity![]()
Treatment had no effects on body weight
(Table 3) or behavior, and it
did not disturb gastrointestinal function.
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Recovery of Spermatogenesis![]()
Four weeks after cessation of intravenous treatment, 50% of tubules showed
signs of spermatogenesis recovery (Figure
4E). Some spermatozoa were also found in the epididymal lumen
(Figure 5E). In comparison, the
recovery was faster in the gavage group, as spermatogenesis was not completely
inhibited after 4 weeks of oral administration.
| Discussion |
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The adjudin-induced, stage-dependent germ cell loss possibly was caused by activation of the mechanism that causes the cleavage of anchoring junctions between late spermatids and Sertoli cells (Mruk and Cheng, 2004a; Cheng et al, 2005). Indeed, the adjudin-induced disturbance of junction restructuring during spermatogenesis is associated with a complex process regulated by a multitude of molecules and MAPK-dependent signal transduction pathways (Xia and Cheng, 2005; Xia et al, 2007). Adjudin-induced changes in the steady-state levels of junction proteins that are the crucial proteins of the disrupted signaling pathways (eg, the ERK signaling pathway) appear to be associated with testin, because a disruption of Sertoli-germ cell anchoring junctions is associated with a significant surge in testin expression both in vivo and in vitro (Cheng et al, 2001). Significant changes in expression of multiple genes were detected by approximately 8 hours after administration of adjudin in a subsequent study using gene profiling techniques in adult rats (Xia et al, 2007). As in rats, orally administrated adjudin had low bioavailability in rabbits. As reported herein, in rabbits the orally administrated bioavailability of adjudin was about 8% of that dose given intravenously. We suggest that adjudin is poorly absorbed or extensively metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract. The pharmacokinetics profiles in rabbits were similar to those in rats (Cheng et al, 2005). When [3H]-adjudin was administered orally to adult rats, the drug was found to distribute uniformly among the testis, kidney, liver, brain, heart, small intestine, prostate, epididymis, seminal vesicles, pancreas, and thyroid after its absorption via the gastrointestinal tract (Cheng et al, 2005). These findings show that adjudin is not specifically taken up by any organ. By 72 to 96 hours after administration, adjudin had been virtually removed via the urine from all organs examined. Our data in rabbits have confirmed these earlier findings in rats, because 24 hours after a single intravenous injection of adjudin at 25 mg/kg body weight (b.w.), the serum adjudin level was already undetectable. Earlier studies in which adjudin was given by gavage showed that less than 5% of [3H]-adjudin was taken up by all organs combined and only 0.035% of administered [3H]-adjudin reached the testis (Cheng et al, 2005); these studies corroborate our finding that this compound has a low oral bioavailability. The mean plasma concentration-time profile for intravenous administration as reported herein was best described by a 2-compartment curve and was consistent with an extensive distribution in peripheral organs.
In summary, adjudin induced germ cell loss from the seminiferous epithelium in rabbits, as previously shown for rats, and it is a potential male contraceptive when delivered intravenously or orally. The pharmacokinetics analysis, however, indicates that this drug has low bioavailability when delivered orally.
| Footnotes |
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| References |
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