Michael L. Gargas

Physiologically based pharmacokinetics and the risk assessment process for methylene chloride

Methylene chloride (dichloromethane, DCM) is metabolized by two pathways: one dependent on oxidation by mixed function oxidases (MFO) and the other dependent on glutathione S-transferases (GST). A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PB-PK) model based on knowledge of these pathways was used to describe the metabolism of DCM in four mammalian species (mouse, rat, hamster, and humans). Kinetic constants for the model were derived from in vivo experiments or the literature. The model was constructed to distinguish contributions from the two pathways of metabolism in lung and liver tissue, and to permit extrapolation from rodents to humans. Model validation was conducted by comparing predicted blood concentration time-course data in rats, mice, and humans with experimental data from these species. The tumor incidence in two chronic studies of DCM toxicity in mice was correlated with various measures of target tissue dose calculated with the PB-PK model. Tumor incidence correlated well with tissue AUC (area under the concentration/time curve) and amount of DCM metabolized by the GST pathway. However, tumor incidence did not correlate with the amount of DCM metabolized by the MFO pathway. Because of its low chemical reactivity, DCM is unlikely to be directly involved in carcinogenesis. Consequently, metabolism of DCM by GST appears to be important in carcinogenesis. The PB-PK model was used to estimate target doses of presumed toxic chemical species in humans exposed to DCM by inhalation or by drinking water. Target tissue doses in humans exposed to low concentrations of DCM are 140- to 170-fold lower (inhalation) or 50- to 210-fold lower (drinking water) than would be expected from the linear extrapolation and body surface area factors which have been used in conventional risk assessment methods (D. V. Singh, H. L. Spitzer, and P. D. White (1985). Addendum to the Health Assessment Document for Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride). EPA/600/8-82/004F). The PB-BK analysis thus suggests that conventional risk analyses greatly overestimate the risk in humans exposed to low concentrations of DCM. PB-PK considerations provide a scientific basis for risk assessment, improve experimental design in chronic studies, and structure collection of quantitative metabolic constants required for risk assessment.

Partition coefficients of low-molecular-weight volatile chemicals in various liquids and tissues

Partition coefficients are required for developing physiologically based pharmacokinetic models used to assess the uptake, distribution, tabolism, and elimination of volatile chemicals in mammals. A gas-phase vial equilibration technique is presented for determining the liquid:air and tissue:air partition coefficients for low-molecular-weight volatile chemicals. This technique was developed from two previously described medium:air methods, relied solely on measurement of chemical concentration in the gas phase, and, compared to earlier work, extends the range of chemicals and tissues examined. Partition coefficients were determined with 0.9% saline, olive oil, and blood, liver, muscle, and fat tissues from rats for 55 compounds. Human blood:air coefficients were determined for 36 compounds and several blood:air values were also determined in the mouse and for one compound in the hamster. An approach is described for predicting the tissue solubilities of untested compounds based on oil:air and saline:air coefficients using regression analyses. A similar approach is used to model fat:air coefficients in terms of oil:air values and to model human blood: air coefficients in terms of rat blood:air coefficients.

A physiologically based simulation approach for determining metabolic constants from gas uptake data.

In vivo metabolic constants were determined in male Fischer rats for five chemicals: 1,1-dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE), diethyl ether (DE), bromochloromethane (BCM), methyl chloroform (MC), and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). A closed recirculated exposure system was used to collect a series of uptake curves for each chemical at a range of initial concentrations. The shapes of these curves were a function of the tissue partition coefficients and the kinetic characteristics of the metabolism of these chemicals. Tissue:air partition coefficients were experimentally determined for each chemical and incorporated into a physiological kinetic model which was then used to simulate the uptake process. An optimal fit of the family of uptake curves for each chemical was obtained by adjusting the biochemical constants for metabolism of the chemical. Metabolism of both 1,1-DCE and CCl4 was represented by a single saturable process while MC required only a first-order pathway. BCM and DE exhibited a combination of both a saturable and a first-order process. Pyrazole, which blocks oxidative microsomal metabolism, inhibited the saturable pathways of 1,1-DCE, BCM, DE, and CCl4 metabolism and abolished the first-order pathway for MC. The maximum velocity of metabolism for the saturable pathway with 1,1-DCE, BCM, DE, and CCl4 for a 225-g rat was 27.2, 19.9, 26.1, and 0.92 mol/hr, respectively. The simulation approach for analyzing gas uptake data distinguishes between single and multiple metabolic pathways and provides kinetic constants that can be used in predictive toxicokinetic models for describing constant concentration inhalation exposure as well as exposures by other routes of administration.

A Physiologically Based Toxicokinetic Model for the Uptake and Disposition of Waterborne Organic Chemicals in Fish

A physiologically based toxicokinetic model was developed to predict the uptake and disposition of waterborne organic chemicals in fish. The model consists of a set of mass-balance differential equations which describe the time course of chemical concentration within each of five tissue compartments: liver, kidney, fat, and richly perfused and poorly perfused tissue. Model compartmentalization and blood perfusion relationships were designed to reflect the physiology of fishes. Chemical uptake and elimination at the gills were modeled as countercurrent exchange processes, limited by the chemical capacity of blood and water flows. The model was evaluated by exposing rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to pentachloroethane (PCE) in water in fish respirometer-metabolism chambers. Exposure to 1500, 150, or 15 micrograms PCE/liter for 48 hr resulted in corresponding changes in the magnitude of blood concentrations without any change in uptake kinetics. The extraction efficiency for the chemical from water decreased throughout each exposure, declining from 65 to 20% in 48 hr. Extraction efficiency was close to 0% in fish exposed to PCE to near steady state (264 hr), suggesting that very little PCE was eliminated by metabolism or other extrabranchial routes. Parameterized for trout with physiological information from the literature and chemical partitioning estimates obtained in vitro, the model accurately predicted the accumulation of PCE in blood and tissues, and its extraction from inspired water. These results demonstrate the potential utility of this model for use in aquatic toxicology and environmental risk assessment.

Determination of the kinetic constants for metabolism of inhaled toxicants in vivo using gas uptake measurements.

Abstract During exposure to inhaled toxicants of low water solubility, blood:gas equilibrium is rapidly attained. Metabolism, tissue loading in poorly perfused organs, and excretion continually reduce in vivo levels, causing further uptake of toxicant. Kinetic parameters for metabolism and tissue loading into poorly perfused tissues can be determined by suitable kinetic analysis of the concentration dependence of the rates of toxicant uptake from recirculated atmospheres. We have investigated the rates of toxicant uptake in rats for (1) Freon 113, (2) Freon 114, (3) difluoroethylene, (4) vinyl methyl ether, (5) 1,1-dichloroethylene, (6) vinyl bromide, (7) ethylene, (8) benzene, (9) bromochloromethane, (10) trichloroethylene, (11) trans -1,2-dichloroethylene, (12) methyl chloride, (13) halothane, (14) methyl bromide, and (15) vinylidene bromide. With (1–3), which have very low water solubility, rates of uptake could not be accurately measured using our chamber design. Rate curves for (4–7) showed a saturable dependence on toxicant concentration. With (8–13) the rate curves had a mixed-form, possessing both a saturable and a first-order component. Rates of uptake with (14 and 15) were rapid and rate curves were first-order. Saturable dependencies appeared to be associated with enzymatic metabolism. Data were transformed by modified Eadie-Hofstee plots to calculate the inhalational K m , the ambient concentration at which uptake proceeded at half the maximum rate, and the inhalational V max , the maximum rate of uptake (i.e., maximum rate of metabolism). First-order uptake appeared either to be tissue loading (10–13) or rapid, nonenzymatic metabolism (14 and 15). A four-compartment, steady-state, pharmacokinetic model was developed to describe gas uptake data in general. Physiological control of the rate of metabolism of inhaled toxicants in vivo was complex. For many of these metabolized toxicants respiration and hepatic perfusion appeared to be rate limiting at low toxicant concentrations, while the capacity of the liver to conduct metabolism was rate limiting at high concentration.

Dermal Absorption of Organic Chemical Vapors in Rats and Humans

Quantitation of chemical vapor penetration through skin is necessary for assessment of health hazards involved in some occupational environments. Information on penetration of vapors through human skin is minimal because human exposures are not sanctioned. We have investigated the whole-body dermal penetration of styrene, xylene, toluene, perchloroethylene, benzene, halothane, hexane, and isoflurane in rats and compared the permeability constants with available human studies on vapor penetration. Rats with closely clipped fur were exposed to organic chemical vapors (3000 to 60,000 ppm) while breathing fresh air through a latex mask. Blood concentrations taken during the 4-hr exposures were determined by sampling through indwelling jugular cannulas. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic model was used to predict permeability constants consistent with the experimental blood concentrations. Permeability constants (cm/hr) were estimated by a least-square optimization and ranged from 1.75 cm/hr for styrene to 0.03 cm/hr for isoflurane. Rat permeability constants were uniformly two to four times greater when compared to the human constants which were calculated from the literature. These results indicate that organic vapor permeability constants in rats are a conservative estimate of organic vapor permeability constants in humans and that the consistent differences in permeability constants between these two species may be due to physiological differences in the skin.

Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling with Dichloromethane, Its Metabolite, Carbon Monoxide, and Blood Carboxyhemoglobin in Rats and Humans'

Dichloromethane (methylene chloride, DCM) and other dihalomethanes are metabolized to carbon monoxide (CO) which reversibly binds hemoglobin and is eliminated by exhalation. We have developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PB-PK) model which describes the kinetics of CO, carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO), and parent dihalomethane, and have applied this model to examine the inhalation kinetics of CO and of DCM in rats and humans. The portion of the model describing CO and HbCO kinetics was adapted from the Coburn-Forster-Kane equation, after modification to include production of CO by DCM oxidation. DCM kinetics and metabolism were described by a generic PB-PK model for volatile chemicals (RAMSEY AND ANDERSEN, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 73, 159-175, 1984). Physiological and biochemical constants for CO were first estimated by exposing rats to 200 ppm CO for 2 hr and examining the time course of HbCO after cessation of CO exposure. These CO inhalation studies provided estimates of CO diffusing capacity under free breathing and for the Haldane coefficient, the relative equilibrium distribution ratio for hemoglobin between CO and O2. The CO model was then coupled to a PB-PK model for DCM to predict HbCO time course behavior during and after DCM exposures in rats. By coupling the models it was possible to estimate the yield of CO from oxidation of DCM. In rats only about 0.7 mol of CO are produced from 1 mol of DCM during oxidation. The combined model adequately represented HbCO and DCM behavior following 4-hr exposures to 200 or 1000 ppm DCM, and HbCO behavior following 1/2-hr exposure to 5160 ppm DCM or 5000 ppm bromochloromethane. The rat PB-PK model was scaled to predict DCM, HbCO, and CO kinetics in humans exposed either to DCM or to CO. Three human data sets from the literature were examined: (1) inhalation of CO at 50, 100, 250, and 500 ppm; (2) seven 1/2-hr inhalation exposures to 50, 100, 250, and 500 ppm DCM; and (3) 2-hr inhalation exposures to 986 ppm DCM. An additional data set from human volunteers exposed to 100 or 350 ppm DCM for 6 hr is reported here for the first time. Endogenous CO production rates and the initial amount of CO in the blood compartment were varied in each study as necessary to give the baseline HbCO value, which varied from less than 0.5% to greater than 2% HbCO. The combined PB-PK model gave a good representation of the observed behavior in all four human studies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Quantitative evaluation of the metabolic interactions between trichloroethylene and 1,1-dichloroethylene in vivo using gas uptake methods

Gas uptake simulation methods were used to determine kinetic constants for trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1-dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE) metabolism in vivo in male Fischer 344 rats. Both are metabolized by single, saturable, oxidative pathways with high-affinity substrate binding. The allometrically scaled maximum velocities (Vmaxc) for TCE and 1,1-DCE were, respectively, 11 and 7.5 mg/hr (i.e., 84 and 77 mumol/hr). Gas uptake studies were also conducted with three mixed atmosphere exposures with the following initial concentrations in parts per million: 500 (1,1-DCE):2000 (TCE); 500 (1,1-DCE):500 (TCE); and 2000 (1,1-DCE):500 (TCE). Mixture uptake curves were described by a system of equations in which a full physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PB-PK) model was provided for each chemical and each was regarded as an inhibitor of the others metabolism. A generic model was developed to accommodate multiple mechanisms of inhibitory interactions, i.e., competitive, noncompetitive, or uncompetitive. An excellent correspondence was obtained between predicted and observed behavior when the inhibition was assumed to be purely competitive with binding constants for TCE and 1,1-DCE set to 0.25 and 0.10 mg/liter, respectively; i.e., in vivo 1,1-DCE is a slightly better substrate for microsomal oxidation than is TCE. The PB-PK model which was successful in describing the mixture data was used to predict conditions under which 1,1-DCE hepatotoxicity would be expected in coexposure to constant concentration atmospheres of these two chloroethylenes. These predictions were compared with data on the increases in plasma liver enzymes resulting from exposures to either 1,1-DCE alone or to 1,1-DCE in combination with TCE.

A physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for inhaled carbon tetrachloride

D.J. Paustenbach et al. (1986, Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 6, 484-497) have described the pharmacokinetics of inhaled, radiolabeled carbon tetrachloride (14CCl4) in male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed for 8 or 11.5 hr/day for 1- or 2-week periods. These studies provided time-course information for exhaled 14CCl4, the exhaled 14CO2 metabolite, and 14C radioactivity eliminated in the feces and urine. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PB-PK) model which incorporated partition characteristics of CCl4 (blood:air and tissue:blood partition coefficients), anatomical and physiological parameters of the test species (body weight, organ weights, ventilation rates, blood flows, etc.), and biochemical constants (Vmax and Km) for CCl4 metabolism was developed to describe these results. The PB-PK model accurately predicted the behavior of CCl4 and its metabolites, both the exhaled CCl4 and 14CO2 and the elimination of radioactivity in urine and feces. The metabolism of CCl4, determined by gas uptake studies, was adequately described by a single saturable pathway. Metabolites were partitioned in the model to three compartments; the amounts to be excreted in the breath (as 14CO2), urine, and feces. Of total CCl4 metabolism, 6.5, 9.5, and 84.0% were formed via the degradative pathways leading to CO2, urinary, and fecal metabolites, respectively. The simplest kinetic explanation of the metabolite time course is that 4% of the initially metabolized CCl4 is directly converted to CO2 (probably via a chloroform intermediate) and the remainder of metabolized CCl4 binds to biological substrates. These adducts appear to be slowly degraded with an average half-life of 24 hr. The breakdown products subsequently appear in the feces and urine (the rate constant for elimination by these two routes is similar) and a small portion is converted all the way to CO2. The PB-PK model successfully described the elimination by all four routes for all four exposure scenarios using a single set of parameters. Vmax and Km were, respectively, 0.65 mg/kg/hr and 0.25 mg/liter. There was no evidence for loss of Vmax with repeated exposure, as would be expected if there was enzyme destruction at these concentrations of CCl4. The model was scaled-up to predict the expected behavior of parent CCl4 in monkeys and humans and the resulting simulations compared very favorably with data collected by McCollister et al. (1951) and Stewart et al. (1961). On the basis of this model and the published data on the rat at 100 ppm about 60% of the inhaled CCl4 is metabolized and the resulting blood levels are already in excess of saturation for the metabolizing enzymes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling with Trichloroethylene and Its Metabolite, Trichloroacetic Acid, in the Rat and Mouse

The uptake and metabolism of trichloroethylene (TCE), and the stoichiometric yield and kinetic behavior of one of its major metabolites, trichloroacetic acid (TCA), were compared in Fischer 344 rats and B6C3F1 mice using a physiological model. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PB-PK) model parameters (metabolic rate constants and tissue partition coefficients) were determined in male and female B6C3F1 mice and were taken from the literature for the male and female Fischer 344 rats. The kinetic behavior of TCA was described by a classical one-compartment model linked to a PB-PK model for TCE. The TCE blood/air partition coefficients for male and female mice, determined by vial equilibration, were 13.4 and 14.3. The Vmaxe values for male and female mice, using gas uptake techniques, were 32.7 +/- .06 and 23.2 +/- 0.1 mg/kg/hr and the Km was 0.25 mg/liter. The PB-PK model for TCE adequately described the uptake and clearance of TCE in male and female rats exposed to a single, constant concentration of TCE vapor, but failed to describe the uptake and clearance of TCE in male and female mice exposed to a wide range TCE vapor concentrations. Computer-predicted blood concentrations of TCE were generally greater than observed blood concentrations of TCE. The stoichiometric yield of TCA in mice exposed to these TCE vapors was concentration dependent. The capacity for oxidation of TCE was much greater in B6C3F1 mice than in Fischer 344 rats, and as a result the systemic concentration of TCA was greater in these mice than rats. An increased body burden of TCA in B6C3F1 mice may be related to the formation of hepatocellular carcinomas in B6C3F1 mice exposed to TCE.