Effects of chlorpromazine on the disposition and beta-adrenergic blocking activity of propranolol in the dog.

The effects of chlorpromazine (100 mg p.o., 2 hr before propranolol) on the disposition and beta-adrenergic blocking actions of both intravenous (6 mg) and oral (40 mg) propranolol were studied in the dog. Chlorpromazine pretreatment significantly reduced (69%) the oral clearance of propranolol, resulting in significant increases in propranolol bioavailability (159%), and in the total beta-adrenergic blocking activity (111%) after the oral dose. The increase in the total beta-adrenergic blocking activity of oral propranolol after chlorpromazine pretreatment was mostly due to an increased contribution from the parent compound; the apparent activity from active propranolol metabolites was not affected by chlorpromazine. Chlorpromazine pretreatment had no significant influence on the systemic clearance, elimination half-life, apparent volume of distribution, and plasma binding of propranolol, or on the apparent hepatic blood flow. After intravenous propranolol, chlorpromazine pretreatment had no effect on either the total amount of beta-adrenergic blocking activity or the amount of activity attributable to active metabolites. The decreased oral propranolol clearance by chlorpromazine was seen as a shift to the left in the propranolol dose vs. AUC relationship, eliminating the apparent nonlinear kinetic behavior of oral propranolol, and reducing the apparent oral threshold dose. Chlorpromazine's major, if not only, effect on propranolol disposition was to reduce the presystemic elimination of propranolol, possibly through inhibition of its metabolism via a pathway other than ring oxidation.