Propranolol metabolism by Cunninghamella bainieri.

1. Incubations of racemic propranolol alone or in the presence of either quinidine or sparteine were performed with Cunninghamella bainieri. 2. Five mammalian metabolites of propranolol (4-hydroxypropranolol, desisopropyl-propranolol, 1-naphthoxylactic acid, propranolol glycol and 1-naphthoxyacetic acid) were present in unhydrolysed extracts of the incubation medium according to h.p.l.c. and g.l.c. analyses. The relative proportion of 4-hydroxypropranolol increased after enzymic treatment. 3. Propranolol not only had a fungistatic effect, but also caused morphological changes in the organism, which were accompanied by decomposition of 4-hydroxypropranolol and formation of a greenish-brown colour in the incubation medium. 4. Drug interaction experiments yielded results which paralleled those reported in mammals. 5. The findings indicate that C. bainieri may be a useful microbial model for drug disposition and interaction studies.