Issue 15, 2022

Application of a gut–liver-on-a-chip device and mechanistic modelling to the quantitative in vitro pharmacokinetic study of mycophenolate mofetil

Abstract

Microphysiological systems (MPS) consisting of multiple linked organ-on-a-chip (OoC) components are highly promising tools with potential to provide more relevant in vitro to in vivo translation of drug disposition, efficacy and toxicity. A gut–liver OoC system was employed with Caco2 cells in co-culture with HT29 cells in the intestinal compartment and single donor primary hepatocytes in the hepatic compartment for the investigation of intestinal permeability, metabolism (intestinal and hepatic) and potential interplay of those processes. The prodrug mycophenolate mofetil was tested for quantitative evaluation of the gut–liver OoC due to the contribution of both gut and liver in its metabolism. Conversion of mycophenolate mofetil to active drug mycophenolic acid and further metabolism to a glucuronide metabolite was assessed over time in the gut apical, gut basolateral and liver compartments. Mechanistic modelling of experimental data was performed to estimate clearance and permeability parameters for the prodrug, active drug and glucuronide metabolite. Integration of gut–liver OoC data with in silico modelling allowed investigation of the complex combination of intestinal and hepatic processes, which is not possible with standard single tissue in vitro systems. A comprehensive evaluation of the mechanistic model, including structural model and parameter identifiability and global sensitivity analysis, enabled a robust experimental design and estimation of in vitro pharmacokinetic parameters. We propose that similar methodologies may be applied to other multi-organ microphysiological systems used for drug metabolism studies or wherever quantitative knowledge of changing drug concentration with time enables better understanding of biological effect.

Graphical abstract: Application of a gut–liver-on-a-chip device and mechanistic modelling to the quantitative in vitro pharmacokinetic study of mycophenolate mofetil

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Mar 2022
Accepted
16 Jun 2022
First published
14 Jul 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Lab Chip, 2022,22, 2853-2868

Application of a gut–liver-on-a-chip device and mechanistic modelling to the quantitative in vitro pharmacokinetic study of mycophenolate mofetil

N. Milani, N. Parrott, D. Ortiz Franyuti, P. Godoy, A. Galetin, M. Gertz and S. Fowler, Lab Chip, 2022, 22, 2853 DOI: 10.1039/D2LC00276K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements