Pharmacokinetic drug interactions between ondansetron and tamoxifen in female Sprague-Dawley rats with DMBA-induced mammary tumor.

Tamoxifen, which is used to treat breast cancer, and ondansetron, used for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea, are commonly metabolized via cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D subfamily and 3A1/2 in rats, as in humans. This study was conducted to investigate the pharmacokinetic interactions between ondansetron and tamoxifen after intravenous and oral administration of ondansetron (both 8 mg/kg) and/or tamoxifen (2 and 10 mg/kg for intravenous and oral administration, respectively), in rats bearing 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammarian tumors (DMBA rats), used as an animal model of human breast cancer. The total area under the plasma concentration-time curve, from time zero to infinity (AUC) of tamoxifen was significantly greater after both intravenous and oral administration with ondansetron, compared to that after administration of tamoxifen-alone. The hepatic and intestinal metabolism of tamoxifen in DMBA rats was inhibited by ondansetron. Taken together, the significant increase in tamoxifen AUC in DMBA rats after intravenous or oral administration with ondansetron may be attributed to non-competitive hepatic (intravenous) and competitive intestinal (oral) inhibition of CYP2D subfamily- and 3A1/2-mediated tamoxifen metabolism by ondansetron.