3.6 Evaluation of TA pharmacokinetics in rats
Bioactive compounds with excellent pharmacokinetic properties greatly
increase the possibility of becoming new drugs. Since TA exhibited
potent efficacy against pancreatic cancer both in vitro andin vivo , we also evaluated the pharmacokinetic properties of TA
in Sprague-Dawley rats. As shown in Figure 6a, our studies indicated
that the pharmacokinetic profiles of TA in rats after intravenous (i.v.)
administration exhibited linear pharmacokinetics. However, we found that
TA was slowly absorbed after intraperitoneal administration, which might
be due to the poor water solubility of TA. After the sacrifice of the
animals, tissue samples were collected to measure the tissue
distribution levels of TA. Importantly, we found that TA showed good
pancreatic tissue specificity (Figure 6b), which was beneficial to the
treatment of pancreatic cancer. Moreover, pharmacokinetic parameters of
TA after intravenous injection in rats were within the acceptance range
(Figure 6c), suggesting that TA could be a potential drug candidate in
pancreatic cancer.