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Browsing by Subject "melaniinisitoutuminen"

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  • Nurmi, Satu (2014)
    Many drugs are known to bind to melanin, a complex pigment polymer found in several human tissues. Melanin can act as a natural depot by prolonging the effect of the drug and reducing its toxicity. Since it is highly concentrated in the posterior part of the eye, pigment targeted long-acting drug delivery systems are proposed as an option in ocular diseases. In systemic drug delivery, pigment targeted drugs can potentially distribute to any melanin containing tissue. Therefore, the literature review of the thesis concentrates on the characteristics of melanin and melanosomes, drug binding property and melanin distribution in humans and other species. The main objective of the exploratory part was to determine if melanin binding can be studied with SPECT/CT (single photon emission computed tomography / computed tomography) imaging method. Two different melanin binding drugs, chloroquine and nadolol, were selected and labeled with iodine and radioactive iodine (123I). Equilibrium melanin binding of iodinated and non-iodinated drugs was studied in vitro in order to find out if iodination affects to the binding. Melanin binding was studied in vitro also with non-binding reference salicylic acid, I2-salicylic acid and salbutamol. Finally, melanin binding of 123I-choloroquine and 123I-nadolol was studied with SPECT/CT (NanoSPECT/CT, Bioscan Inc., USA) by comparing distribution kinetics between pigmented and albino rat. Drugs were administered intravenously to the tail vena and the distribution was followed in several time points, up to 24 h. Based on in vitro study, iodination increases melanin binding of hydrophilic drugs, nadolol and salicylic acid, significantly. In vivo study showed clear accumulation of 123I-chloroquine in the posterior eye of pigmented rats whereas it was absent from albino rat. Interestingly, 123I-nadolol accumulated in to the nasal cavity of pigmented rats. Aromatic iodination changes electronegative properties of compounds and raises their logP (octanol/water partition coefficient) value affecting to the melanin binding positively. Therefore the effect of the radiotracer to the physicochemical properties of the compound and melanin binding should be determined in vitro. This study showed that SPECT/CT imaging method can be used to study melanin binding in vivo. Because the method is semi-quantitative, also a quantitative method should be incorporated to the study in order to have more powerful data. Additional studies are required for statistical analysis.
  • Rimpelä, Anna-Kaisa (2014)
    Certain drugs accumulate into pigmented tissues due to their binding to melanin, a macromolecule inside pigmented cells. Melanin can affect the drug's pharmacokinetics by acting as a drug reservoir. Binding can also cause toxic effects by accumulating compounds to pigmented cells. This thesis focuses on ocular melanin. The literature review covers the most common methods used in the study of ocular melanin binding and concentrates on in vitro methods and the analysis and usability of the results in pharmacokinetic modeling. The aim of the experimental part was to study melanin binding of a set of compounds in vitro with melanin isolated from the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid of porcine eyes and with primary porcine RPE cells and then construct a pharmacokinetic model of melanin binding with STELLA® software and simulate it with the in vitro results. The compounds chosen for the study; nadolol, timolol, chloroquine, methotrexate, carboxydichlorofluorescein (CDCF) and dexamethasone, are small molecules with diverse physicochemical properties (octanol/water partitioning coefficient (logP), pKa, acid/base status). Some are also efflux substrates. The in vitro binding with melanin was studied at pH 7.4 and in addition at pH 5 for the acidic compounds, since the pH inside melanosomes where melanin is located is acidic. Porcine RPE cells were used to study the amount of uptake and rate of elimination of the set of compounds. The effect of efflux was also evaluated with a general efflux inhibitor probenecid. All the basic compounds bound to melanin in vitro. The acidic compounds did not seem to bind at pH 7.4 but bound at pH 5. Chloroquine, as expected, had the highest binding. In the cell studies, the uptake of chloroquine was significant, at least partly due to melanin binding. The other compounds were taken into the cells to a much smaller extent. The efflux inhibitor did not seem to affect the results. The results of the binding study were used in the models constructed of melanin binding and cellular pharmacokinetics. The constructed model was a very simple one not taking into account many factors affecting cellular pharmacokinetics. The results of both the in vitro studies and the model give a good idea of the importance of melanin binding in ocular drug delivery. The model can be used in the future as a base for more comprehensive models of the effect of melanin binding on ocular pharmacokinetics.