Interplay of phase II enzymes and transporters in futile cycling: influence of multidrug resistance-associated protein 2-mediated excretion of estradiol 17beta-D-glucuronide and its 3-sulfate metabolite on net sulfation in perfused TR(-) and Wistar rat liver preparations.

The hepatic disposition of estradiol 17beta-D-glucuronide (E(2)17G), a substrate of the organic anion-transporting polypeptides Oatp1a1, Oatp1a4, and Oatp1b2, was investigated in Wistar and TR(-) [multidrug resistance-associated protein (Mrp) 2-mutant] rats to elucidate how absence of Mrp2, the major excretory transporter for both E(2)17G and its 3-sulfate metabolite (E(2)3S17G), affected the net sulfation. With absence of Mrp2, lower microsomal desulfation activity and higher Mrp3 but unchanged immunoreactive protein expression of other transporters (Oatps and Mrp4) and estrogen sulfotransferase were found in TR(-) rats. In recirculating, perfused liver preparations, the rapid decay of E(2)17G and sluggish appearance of low levels of E(2)3S17G in perfusate for Wistar livers were replaced by a protracted, biexponential decay of E(2)17G and greater accumulation of E(2)3S17G, whose levels reached plateaus upon the almost complete obliteration of biliary excretion of E(2)17G and E(2)3S17G in the TR(-) liver. Much higher amounts of E(2)17G (28x) and E(2)3S17G (11x) in liver and reduced net sulfation (40 +/- 6 from 77 +/- 6% dose, P < 0.05) were observed at 2 h for the TR(-) versus the Wistar rats. With use of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model, analytical solutions for the areas under the curve for the precursor and metabolite were obtained to reveal how enzyme- and transporter-mediated processes affected the hepatic disposition of the precursor and metabolite in futile cycling. The analytical solutions were useful to explain transporter-enzyme interplay in futile cycling and predicted that a shutdown of Mrp2 function led to decreased net sulfation of E(2)17G by raising the intracellular concentration of the metabolite, E(2)3S17G, which readily refurnished E(2)17G via desulfation.