harmine and Hypoxia

Livers from fasted (N = 16) and fed (N = 22) rats were perfused with harmol (50 microM) for an initial 30 min with normal oxygen delivery (6-10 mumol/min/g liver), then for 45 min with perfusate equilibrated with O2/N2 mixtures, which reduced hepatic oxygen delivery to 0.9-6 mumol/min/g liver, and finally for a further 30 min period of normal oxygenation. Seventy per cent of the harmol eliminated was accounted for as the glucuronide conjugate and approximately 5% as the sulphate conjugate. During the hypoxia phase with fed preparations, decreasing oxygenation did not reduce harmol clearance or harmol glucuronide formation clearance until oxygen delivery was less than 2.5 mumol/min/g liver, whereas with fasted preparations this hypoxic threshold was much higher (5 mumol/min/g liver). Below the hypoxic threshold, harmol clearance was linearly related to oxygen delivery in both groups. Hepatic tissue concentrations of unchanged harmol at the end of the hypoxia phase were double those after the same period of normal oxygenation, whereas tissue harmol glucuronide concentrations were similar. By establishing a hypoxic threshold for reduced oxygen availability this study shows that harmol glucuronidation is relatively insensitive to hypoxia, but sensitivity increases markedly in fasted animals.

Topics: Animals; Body Weight; Fasting; Glucuronates; Harmine; Humans; Hypoxia; Liver; Male; Oxygen; Oxygen Consumption; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sensitivity and Specificity

In isolated hepatocytes the availability of intracellular glucose appears to be a key factor controlling the rate of xenobiotic glucuronidation during hypoxia. This study in the isolated perfused rat liver examines the effect of both a 24-hr fast and removal of glucose (8 mM) from liver perfusate on the elimination of bolus doses of harmol (20 mumol) under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. In the preparations used in these experiments, harmol glucuronide is the major metabolite (greater than 80%) with the remainder being sulphate. During normal oxygenation, in the livers from fed rats, harmol was rapidly eliminated (t1/2 = 4.2 +/- 0.4 min; mean +/- SD, N = 4). Fasting led to a small reduction in harmol elimination rate (t1/2 = 5.6 +/- 0.4 min; P less than 0.025) while removal of glucose from perfusate made no difference in either fed or fasted preparations. In the same livers, a second bolus dose of harmol was given during hypoxia. This produced a modest decline in harmol elimination in fed rats (t1/2 = 7.1 +/- 2.0 min; P less than 0.05). However, in fasted rats there was a striking reduction in harmol elimination (t1/2 = 109.8 +/- 54.0 min; P less than 0.025). The removal of glucose from perfusate made no significant difference to these results (t1/2 = 253 +/- 209 min in fasted preparations, P greater than 0.1). In all preparations, reoxygenation resulted in a rapid recovery of drug elimination. We conclude that nutritional state is important in determining the impact of hypoxia on harmol elimination by the liver. This study suggests that clinically significant reductions in xenobiotic glucuronidation are most likely to occur in poorly nourished or fasted subjects who became hypoxaemic.

Topics: Alkaloids; Animals; Fasting; Glucose; Harmine; Hypoxia; In Vitro Techniques; Lactates; Lactic Acid; Liver; Male; Oxygen Consumption; Perfusion; Pyruvates; Pyruvic Acid; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Uridine Diphosphate Glucuronic Acid

Although studies in isolated hepatocytes have demonstrated that hypoxia adversely affects drug conjugation, the impact of hypoxia on drug elimination by conjugation in the intact liver has not been defined. This study in the isolated perfused rat liver examines the effect of acute hypoxia on the hepatic elimination of harmol, a phenolic compound eliminated by conjugation without first undergoing oxidative metabolism. In the preparation used in these experiments, harmol glucuronide is the major metabolite (greater than 80%), with the remainder being sulfate. The hypoxic insult consisted of an 80% reduction of hepatic oxygen delivery for 1 hr. During normal oxygenation, a 20-mumol dose was rapidly eliminated (T1/2 = 4.3 +/- 0.8 min; mean +/- S.D., n = 5). A second dose given after 30 min of hypoxia was eliminated much more slowly (T1/2 = 21 +/- 7.9 min, P less than .01). Upon reoxygenation, T1/2 recovered to 4.2 +/- 0.5 min. Similar effects were observed in steady-state experiments, in which perfusate levels rose from 15.7 +/- 1.3 microM to 31.0 +/- 1.6 microM (P less than .005) during hypoxia, indicating a fall in harmol clearance of at least 50%. In each group of experiments, there was a significant reduction in both the formation and elimination of harmol conjugates during hypoxia. Upon reoxygenation, harmol conjugation recovered, but conjugate elimination remained significantly impaired. The authors conclude that acute hypoxia slows the hepatic elimination of harmol by reducing drug conjugation, an effect that is promptly reversed by reoxygenation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Alkaloids; Anaerobiosis; Animals; Cells, Cultured; Harmine; Hypoxia; Kinetics; Liver; Male; Oxygen Consumption; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains

Topics: Body Temperature Regulation; Harmaline; Harmine; Hypoxia; Lethargy; Sleep Stages