Estimation of plasma protein binding of selected antipsychotics using computed molecular properties

The plasma protein binding (PPB) data of twelve antipsychotics (aripiprazole, clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, sertindole, ziprasidone, chlorpromazine, flupentixol, fluphenazine, haloperidol, zuclopenthixol) were estimated using computed molecular descriptors, which included the electronic descriptor – polar surface area (PSA), the constitutional parameter – molecular weight (Mw), the geometric descriptor – volume value (Vol), the lipophilicity descriptor (logP) and aqueous solubility data (logS), and the acidity descriptor (pKa). The relationships between computed molecular properties of the selected antipsychotics and their PPB data were investigated by simple linear regression analysis. Low correlations were obtained between the PPB data of the antipsychotics and PSA, Mw, Vol, pKa, logS (R <0.30) values, while relatively higher correlations (0.35 < R2 < 0.70) were obtained for the majority of logP values. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was applied to access reliable correlations of the PPB data of the antipsychotics and the computed molecular descriptors. Relationships with acceptable probability values (P<0.05) were established for five lipophilicity descriptors (logP values) with application of the acidity descriptor (pKa) as independent variables: AlogP (R2=0.705), XlogP3 (R2=0.679), ClogP (R2=0.590), XlogP2 (R2=0.567), as well as for the experimental lipophilicity parameter, logPexp (R2=0.635). The best correlations obtained in MLR using AlogP and pKa as independent variables were checked using three additional antipsychotics: loxapine, sulpiride and amisulpride, with the PPB values of 97%, “less than” 40% and 17%, respectively. Their predicted PPB values were relatively close to the literature data. The proposed technique confirmed that lipophilicity, together with acidity significantly influences the PPB of antipsychotics. The described procedure can be regarded as an additional in vitro approach to the modeling of the investigated group of drugs. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 172016

A Forgotten Episode of Marburg Virus Disease: Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1967

In 1967, several workers involved in poliomyelitis vaccine development and production fell ill at three different locations in Europe with a severe and often lethal novel disease associated with grivets (Chlorocebus aethiops) imported from Uganda. This disease was named Marburg virus disease (MVD) after the West German town of Marburg an der Lahn, where most human infections and deaths had been recorded. Consequently, the Marburg episode received the most scientific and media attention. Cases that occurred in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, were also described in commonly accessible scientific literature, although they were less frequently cited than those pertaining to the Marburg infections. However, two infections occurring in a third location, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, have seemingly been all but forgotten. Due in part to their absence in commonly used databases and in part to the fact that they were written in languages other than English, the important articles describing this part of the outbreak are very rarely cited. Here, we summarize this literature and correct published inaccuracies to remind a younger generation of scientists focusing on Marburg virus and its closest filoviral relatives of this important historical context. Importantly, and unfortunately, the three episodes of infection of 1967 still represent the best in-depth clinical look at MVD in general and in the context of "modern" medicine (fully resourced versus less-resourced capacity) in particular. Hence, each individual case of these episodes holds crucial information for health care providers who may be confronted with MVD today