Abstract

The role of human plasma lipoproteins as carriers in the blood transport of the cholesterol-lowering and water-insoluble drug, probucol, was investigated in in vitro studies. [14C]Probucol was incubated in whole human blood, a serum pool, individual diluted sera, and isolated protein and lipoprotein fractions. In whole blood, about 90% partitioned in plasma. Following ultracentrifugal fractionation of the serum, it was found that less than 5% distributed in the d greater than 1.20 protein fraction (albumin-rich fraction) and more than 95% in the lipoprotein fractions. The distribution of probucol in the lipoprotein fractions correlated with the lipoprotein total lipid volume under saturation conditions (incubation of isolated lipoprotein fractions) as well as nonsaturation conditions (fractionation of serum exposed to [14C]probucol). Incubation of the albumin-rich fraction and of apolipoproteins originating from the isolated lipoprotein fractions showed that they account for a negligible part in the interaction of probucol with blood components. The probucol uptake of individual sera was shown to be correlated to the lipid content of the serum. When probucol was incubated in erythrocyte suspensions containing variable amounts of lipoproteins, probucol partitioned less in erythrocytes as the lipoprotein concentration increased in the suspension.