Identification of metabolites of MDR-1339, an inhibitor of β-amyloid protein aggregation, and kinetic characterization of the major metabolites in rats

•Identification of ten metabolites (i.e., 7 Phase 1 + 3 Phase 2) of MDR-1339 in rats.•Proposal for the major metabolic pathways to be CYP3A4, 2B6 and 2C9.•Simultaneous quantification of MDR-1339 and its major metabolite M1 and M2.•Formation of M1 accounted for ∼19.7% of the total MDR-1339 elimination in rats. We previously reported that MDR-1339, an inhibitor of β-amyloid protein aggregation, was likely to be eliminated by biotransformation in rats. The objective of this study was to determine the chemical identity of metabolites derived from this aggregate inhibitor and to characterize the kinetics of formation of these metabolites in rats. Using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry with a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap, 7 metabolites and 1 potential metabolic intermediate were identified in RLM incubations containing MDR-1339. In addition to these, 3 glucuronide metabolites were detected in urine samples from rats receiving a 10 mg/kg oral dose of MDR-1339. When the kinetics of the formation of two major metabolites, M1 and M2, were analyzed assuming simple Michaelis-Menten kinetics, the Vmax and Km values were found to be 0.459 ± 0.0196 nmol/min/mg protein and 28.3 ± 3.07 μM for M1, and 0.101 ± 0.00537 nmol/min/mg protein and 14.7 ± 2.37 μM for M2, respectively. When chemically synthesized M1 and M2 were individually administered to rats intravenously at the dose of 5 mg/kg respectively, the volume of distribution and elimination clearance were determined to be 4590 ± 709 mL/kg and 68.4 ± 5.60 mL/min/kg for M1 and 15300 ± 8110 mL/kg and 98.0 ± 19.5 mL/min/kg for M2, respectively. When MDR-1339 was intravenously administered to rats at a dose of 5 mg/kg, the parent drug and M1 were readily detected for periods of up to 6 h after the administration, but M2 was observed only from 2 to 4 h. A standard moment analysis indicates that the formation clearance of M1 is 6.01 mL/min/kg, suggesting that 19.7% of the MDR-1339 dose was eliminated in rats. These observations indicate that the hepatic biotransformation of MDR-1339 results in the formation of at least 10 metabolites and that M1 is the major metabolite derived from this aggregation inhibitor in rats.