The present study developed physiologically-based kinetic (PBK) models for the alkenylbenzene apiol in order to facilitate risk assessment based on read-across from the related alkenylbenzene safrole. Model predictions indicate that in rat liver the formation of the 1'-sulfoxy metabolite is about 3 times lower for apiol than for safrole. These data support that the lower confidence limit of the benchmark dose resulting in a 10% extra cancer incidence (BMDL10) that would be obtained in a rodent carcinogenicity study with apiol may be 3-fold higher for apiol than for safrole. These results enable a preliminary risk assessment for apiol, for which tumor data are not available, using a BMDL10 value of 3 times the BMDL10 for safrole. Based on an estimated BMDL10 for apiol of 5.7-15.3 mg/kg body wt per day and an estimated daily intake of 4 × 10(-5) mg/kg body wt per day, the margin of exposure (MOE) would amount to 140,000-385,000. This indicates a low priority for risk management. The present study shows how PBK modelling can contribute to the development of alternatives for animal testing, facilitating read-across from compounds for which in vivo toxicity studies on tumor formation are available to compounds for which these data are unavailable.
The present study describes physiologically based kinetic (PBK) models for the alkenylbenzene myristicin that were developed by extension of the PBK models for the structurally related alkenylbenzene safrole in rat and human. The newly developed myristicin models revealed that the formation of the proximate carcinogenic metabolite 1′-hydroxymyristicin in liver is at most 1.8 fold higher in rat than in human and limited for the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite 1′-sulfoxymyristicin to (2.8–4.0)-fold higher in human. In addition, a comparison was made between the relative importance of bioactivation for myristicin and safrole. Model predictions indicate that for these related compounds, the formation of the 1′-sulfoxy metabolites in rat and human liver is comparable with a difference of <2.2-fold over a wide dose range. The results from this PBK analysis support that risk assessment of myristicin may be based on the BMDL10 derived for safrole of 1.9–5.1 mg/kg bw per day. Using an estimated daily intake of myristicin of 0.0019 mg/kg bw per day resulting from the use of herbs and spices, this results in MOE values for myristicin that amount to 1000–2700, indicating a priority for risk management. The results obtained illustrate that PBK modeling provides insight into possible species differences in the metabolic activation of myristicin. Moreover, they provide an example of how PBK modeling can facilitate a read-across in risk assessment from a compound for which in vivo toxicity studies are available to a related compound for which tumor data are not reported, thus contributing to alternatives in animal testing.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00204-016-1752-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.