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Pharmacology of a New Triazine Antifolate in Mice, Rats, Dogs, and Monkeys¹

Department of Pharmacology [A. R. C., D. R. M., E. J. G., J. R. B.], Department of Medicine [R. T. S., J. R. B.], and Section of Comparative Medicine [E. J. G.], Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510

Triazinate (TZT), a potent inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase, was selected for detailed investigation to determine its mechanism of selective action as well as its metabolic fate in mice, rats, dogs, and monkeys. The serum disappearance of TZT in normal and tumor-bearing mice was similar, with a rapid tissue equilibration phase and a slower elimination phase. Serum disappearance in normal and tumor-bearing rats was 1.5 to 2.2 hr. Serum disappearance in dogs and monkeys was similar, with half-lives of 3 to 4 and 2 to 4 hr, respectively. Urinary excretion of TZT at 24 hr was only 5 to 6% of the injected dose in mice and rats; in contrast, the dogs excreted 60% of the injected dose in 8 hr.

TZT accumulated to comparable degrees in the organs of rats and mice, with progressively lesser concentrations in liver, kidney, spleen, and brain. Dihydrofolate reductase activity became almost undectectable in all tissues studied within 15 min after drug administration. An important difference in drug accumulation was in the ascites cells of tumor-bearing animals: in mice, the drug level was consistently lower in the L1210 cells than in the ascites fluid; in contrast, by 30 min after treatment with TZT the drug level in Walker 256 cells was 10-fold higher than the level in the ascites fluid.

No evidence for drug metabolism was found in extracts of urine, feces, or organ tissues from either mice or rats.

TZT and two related triazines were studied for their ability to accumulate in the cerebrospinal fluid of dogs after i.v. administration. TZT achieved a cerebrospinal fluid level of approximately 15% of the serum concentration at 1 hr; in contrast, the other two triazines reached maximum cerebrospinal fluid values of 1% at 1 hr.

¹ Supported by Contract PH 43-67-1193 from the Division of Cancer Treatment, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Department of Health, Education and Welfare and USPHS Grant CA-08010.

² Career Development Awardee of the National Cancer Institute. To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, Conn. 06510.

Received 2/ 4/74. Accepted 9/ 9/74.