Kinetic characterization of glycosidase activity from disaccharide conjugate to monosaccharide conjugate in Caco-2 cells.

Glycosidase activity influences the intestinal absorption of glycosides. Our previous study in rats suggested that disaccharide conjugates might be prototypes for pre-prodrugs aiming at the Na(+)/glucose co-transporter-mediated transport of prodrugs (drug glucoside) as a novel absorption pathway. One of the crucial factors is the formation of a glucoside drug from the disaccharide conjugate. Since there is a large species difference in metabolism, it is necessary to examine the cells and/or enzymes derived from human tissue to confirm this concept. In this paper, we kinetically characterized the glycosidase activity of disaccharide conjugates in Caco-2 cells. Disaccharide conjugates of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) (p-NP beta-cellobioside, p-NP beta-lactoside and p-NP beta-maltoside) were hydrolysed to p-NP beta-glucoside. beta-glucosidase or beta-galactosidase (lactase/phloridzin hydrolase, LPH) and alpha-glucosidase (sucrase-isomaltase) had different pH-dependent activities for disaccharide conjugates. At neutral pH, LPH has low affinity and low capacity, and sucrase-isomaltase has high affinity and high capacity, whereas at acid pH, LPH has high affinity and low capacity, and sucrase-isomaltase has low affinity and high capacity. The hydrolysis clearance calculated with Vmax/Km indicated that sucrase-isomaltase activity is much higher than LPH activity at either neutral or acid pH in Caco-2 cells. Since the hydrolysis rate of the disaccharide conjugate was highly dependent on the pH value and type of glycoside linkage, the appropriate selection of a glycoside form after consideration of these differences is the key to designing a sugar-conjugate prodrug.