Protein Binding and Hepatic Clearance: Re-Examining the Discrimination between Models of Hepatic Clearance with Diazepam in the Isolated Perfused Rat Liver Preparation.

This study re-examined the hepatic extraction for diazepam, the only drug for which isolated perfused rat liver (IPRL) studies have been reported not to be consistent with the well stirred model of organ elimination when only entering and exiting liver concentration measurements are available. First, the time dependency of diazepam equilibrium fraction unbound measurements from 4 to 24 hours was tested, reporting the continuing increases with time. The results showed that the time dependency of equilibrium protein-binding measurements for very highly bound drugs may be an issue that is not readily overcome. When examining C out/C in (F obs) measurements for diazepam when no protein is added to the incubation media, IPRL outcomes were consistent with previous reports showing marked underpredictability of in vivo clearance from in vitro measures of elimination in the absence of protein for very highly bound drugs, which is markedly diminished in the presence of albumin. F obs for diazepam at additional low concentrations of protein that would allow discrimination of the models of hepatic elimination produced results that were not consistent with the dispersion and parallel-tube models. Therefore, although the outcomes of this study were similar to those reported by Rowland and co-workers, when no protein is added to the perfusion media, these IPRL results for diazepam cannot be reasonably interpreted as proving that hepatic organ elimination is model-independent or as supporting the dispersion and parallel-tube models of organ elimination. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The only drug experiments for which isolated perfusion rat liver studies do not support hepatic clearance being best described by the well stirred model have been carried out with diazepam at zero protein concentration. This study repeated those studies, confirming the previous results at zero protein concentration, but the addition of low protein-binding conditions capable of differentiating the various models of hepatic elimination are more consistent with the well stirred model of hepatic elimination. These experimental studies do not support the preference for alternate models of hepatic elimination or the proposal that hepatic organ clearance is model-independent.