A mechanistic modelling approach for the determination of the mechanisms of inhibition by cyclosporine on the uptake and metabolism of atorvastatin in rat hepatocytes using a high throughput uptake method

(1) Determine the inhibition mechanism through which cyclosporine inhibits the uptake and metabolism of atorvastatin in fresh rat hepatocytes using mechanistic models applied to data generated using a high throughput oil spin method. (2) Atorvastatin was incubated in fresh rat hepatocytes (0.05–150 nmol/ml) with or without 20 min pre-incubation with 10 nmol/ml cyclosporine and sampled over 0.25–60 min using a high throughput oil spin method. Micro-rate constant and macro-rate constant mechanistic models were ranked based on goodness of fit values. (3) The best fitting model to the data was a micro-rate constant mechanistic model including non-competitive inhibition of uptake and competitive inhibition of metabolism by cyclosporine (Model 2). The association rate constant for atorvastatin was 150-fold greater than the dissociation rate constant and 10-fold greater than the translocation into the cell. The association and dissociation rate constants for cyclosporine were 7-fold smaller and 10-fold greater, respectively, than atorvastatin. The simulated atorvastatin-transporter-cyclosporine complex derived using the micro-rate constant parameter estimates increased in line with the incubation concentration of atorvastatin. (4) The increased amount of data generated with the high throughput oil spin method, combined with a micro-rate constant mechanistic model helps to explain the inhibition of uptake by cyclosporine following pre-incubation