enalaprilat-anhydrous and Kidney-Diseases

The prevalence of congestive heart failure (CHF), a debilitating condition associated with impaired quality of life and markedly shortened life expectancy, is increasing. The goals of therapy for CHF are reducing symptoms, improving functional capacity, and slowing the progression of the condition. In most cases, this is best achieved with a combination of diuretic and vasodilator therapy. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have several advantages over other vasodilatory agents and are becoming widely used for treating CHF. The most recently introduced ACE inhibitor, fosinopril, is at least as effective as enalapril, and its dual and compensatory route of excretion is particularly advantageous in patients with renal insufficiency. Fosinopril may also have particular benefits in the prevention of CHF, as it has beneficial effects on cardiac function that may help delay the onset of overt cardiac failure.

Topics: Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Blood Pressure; Clinical Trials as Topic; Enalaprilat; Exercise Tolerance; Fosinopril; Half-Life; Heart Failure; Hemodynamics; Humans; Kidney; Kidney Diseases; Lisinopril; Male

To delineate the pathogenesis of the reduction in hemoglobin occurring in renal transplant patients treated with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and azathioprine (AZA) a controlled, prospective trial of ACEI withdrawal was conducted. The ACEI was replaced by nifedipine or clonidine in 15 kidney transplant patients immunosuppressed with AZA and prednisone (enalapril in 14 and captopril in 1). Before and during 10 to 12 weeks after withdrawal of the ACEI, AZA metabolites, renal function parameters and hematological parameters including erythropoietin and reticulocytes were evaluated. Enalaprilat levels were measured and compared with 15 similar patients matched for transplant function and enalapril dosage immunosuppressed with cyclosporine and prednisone. AZA metabolites did not differ significantly in the presence or absence of the ACEI. Enalaprilat levels also showed no significant difference between the two patient groups treated with AZA or cyclosporine. Hematocrit and hemoglobin increased significantly from 37.5 +/- 6.4 to 39.7 +/- 3.6% (mean +/- SD, P = 0.02) and 12.8 +/- 2.2 to 13.5 +/- 1.2 g/dl, P = 0.04, respectively, 10 to 12 weeks after ACEI treatment had been discontinued. Simultaneously numbers of reticulocytes and erythropoietin concentrations rose significantly after 2, 4 and 10 weeks, with a peak at two weeks (from 14.1 +/- 3.8 to 20.6 +/- 8.0/1000, P < 0.05 and from 14.3 +/- 12.4 to 29.3 +/- 54.5 mU/ml, P < 0.05, respectively). In conclusion, ACEI-related anemia in renal transplant recipients seems to be due to the erythropoietin-lowering effect of this group of drugs. A pharmacokinetic interaction between AZA and enalapril is not likely since plasma enalaprilat levels were independent of the immunosuppressive regimen and AZA metabolite levels were unchanged in the presence and absence of the ACEI. Several mechanisms by which angiotensin converting enzyme blockade may cause a decrease in circulating erythropoietin are discussed.

Topics: Adult; Anemia; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Azathioprine; Cyclosporine; Drug Interactions; Enalaprilat; Erythrocytes; Erythropoietin; Female; Hematocrit; Hemoglobins; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Kidney Diseases; Kidney Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Thioguanine

The study aimed to predict effective human jejunal permeability (P(eff)) using a biophysical model based on parametrized paracellular, aqueous boundary layer, and transcellular permeabilities, and the villus-fold surface area expansion factor (k(VF)). Published human jejunal data (119 P(eff), 53 compounds) were analyzed by a regression procedure incorporating a dual-pore size paracellular model. Transcellular permeability, scaled by k(VF), was equated to that of Caco-2 at pH 6.5. The biophysical model predicted human jejunal permeability data within the experimental uncertainty. This investigation revealed several surprising predictions: (i) many molecules permeate predominantly (but not exclusively) by the paracellular route, (ii) the aqueous boundary layer thickness in the intestinal perfusion experiments is larger than expected, (iii) the mucosal surface area in awake humans is apparently nearly entirely accessible to drug absorption, and (iv) the relative "leakiness" of the human jejunum is not so different from that observed in a number of published Caco-2 studies.

Topics: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Dogs; Humans; Jejunal Diseases; Kidney Diseases; Models, Biological; Permeability; Porosity; Regression Analysis

Topics: Adult; Aged; Enalapril; Enalaprilat; Female; Humans; Kidney Diseases; Kinetics; Male; Middle Aged; Renal Dialysis

Enalapril maleate (MK-421), a nonmercapto-containing angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, is converted in vivo to enalaprilat (MK-422), the active diacid. We evaluated serum profiles and urinary excretion of oral enalapril maleate in patients with renal disease (group I, creatinine clearance less than 3 ml/min, patients undergoing dialysis, n = 10; group II, creatinine clearance 10 to 79 ml/min, n = 9) compared with healthy subjects (group III, creatinine clearance greater than 80 ml/min, n = 10). Group I received a 10 mg dose during a day while not receiving dialysis and a 10 mg dose 1 hour before dialysis 2 weeks later. Groups II and III received a single 10 mg dose. Blood samples and urine were collected for 48 hours. Impaired renal function resulted in elevated serum and plasma concentrations of enalapril maleate and decreased excretion rates and urinary recovery of enalapril maleate and enalaprilat. The data suggest an apparent increase in the extent of metabolism of enalapril maleate to enalaprilat or an increase in nonrenal elimination of unchanged enalapril maleate in renal disease compared with normal health. Enalaprilat was dialyzable.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Blood Pressure; Creatinine; Enalapril; Enalaprilat; Female; Humans; Kidney Diseases; Kinetics; Male; Middle Aged; Pulse; Radioimmunoassay; Renal Dialysis