Pharmacokinetics of human activated protein C. 1st communication: plasma concentration and excretion of a lyophilized purified human activated protein C after intravenous administration in the mouse and the rabbit.

Pharmacokinetic studies of human activated protein C (CAS 42617-41-4, APC) were investigated in mice and rabbits with 125I-labeled compound. Plasma levels of APC were determined by three different assays: total radioactivity, APC antigenicity determined by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the amidolytic activity which was performed by immunologically captured APC. APC concentration obtained from these assays were shown to be correlated well at early times post-dose. After intravenous administration, total radioactivity in the plasma declined tri-exponentially, but antigenicity and amidolytic activity in the plasma declined biexponentially. Plasma AUC increased proportionally with the dose, and the total body clearance and t1/2 did not change significantly. In addition, no significant difference was observed between the pharmacokinetics in male and female mice. In rabbit study, the profiles of times vs APC concentration in the plasma was similar to those in mice after single bolus injection. The plasma concentrations of APC during and after infusion in rabbits were also determined. APC concentration increased during infusion and reached almost steady state at the end of infusion. The profiles of the APC concentration in benzamidine citrate plasma corresponded to the simulated curves which were characterized by the parameters obtained from the single bolus experiment. Plasma disposition profiles of the protein were studied with high performance gel chromatography method. The radioactivity in the unchanged APC was observed at 15 min after administration. At 1 h, most of the radioactivity was observed in larger molecule fraction than the intact APC. These results corresponded to the decrease of amidolytic activity in the plasma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)