The dispositions of 50 marketed central nervous system (CNS) drugs into the brain have been examined in terms of their rat in situ (P) and in vitro apparent membrane permeability (P app ) alongside lipophilicity and free fraction in rat brain tissue. The inter-relationship between these parameters highlights that both permeability and brain tissue binding influence the uptake of drugs into the CNS. Hydrophilic compounds characterized by low brain tissue binding display a strong correlation (R 2 ϭ 0.82) between P and P app , whereas the uptake of more lipophilic compounds seems to be influenced by both P app and brain free fraction. A nonlinear relationship is observed between logP oct and P over the 6 orders of magnitude range in lipophilicity studied. These findings corroborate recent reports in the literature that brain penetration is a function of both rate and extent of drug uptake into the CNS.The development of new drugs targeting the central nervous system (CNS) is the fastest growing franchise within the pharmaceutical sector, although this growth has been tempered by relatively poor success of novel candidates (Alavijeh et al., 2005). One of the significant challenges in treating CNS conditions is drug passage across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a layer of endothelial cells connected with tight junctions that express numerous drug-metabolizing enzymes and efflux transporters (Pardridge, 1997;Tamai and Tsuji, 2000). Therefore, investigation of drug properties that are favorable for CNS delivery can greatly improve efforts in drug discovery.A number of methods are available to determine the rate of uptake of drugs from blood into brain parenchyma (Begley, 1999). In the pharmaceutical industry, CNS penetration is usually assessed in rodents following either intravenous or oral dosing to determine the brain-to-blood concentration ratio. This takes into account not only BBB penetration but also binding, metabolism, and clearance. However, there can be marked species differences in the influence of these parameters on overall BBB penetration; hence, there is significant value in removing some of this complexity and assessing brain penetration at the level of the BBB in situ. Considering that the BBB is conserved across species (Cserr and Bundgaard, 1984), this may represent a more meaningful indicator of the intrinsic ability of the compound to cross the BBB in humans. Furthermore, in situ techniques offer an ideal validation tool for assessing in vitro BBB models, and they also provide further insight into the molecular descriptors that are crucial for BBB penetration.Brain perfusion has been used in neurochemical research for more than 50 years. Early methods focused on long-term perfusion of isolated brain and required extensive surgical Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at

This work examines the inter-relationship between the unbound drug fractions in blood and brain homogenate, passive membrane permeability, P-glycoprotein (Pgp) efflux ratio, and log octanol/water partition coefficients (cLogP) in determining the extent of central nervous system (CNS) penetration observed in vivo. The present results demonstrate that compounds often considered to be Pgp substrates in rodents (efflux ratio greater than 5 in multidrug resistant Madin-Darby canine kidney cells) with poor passive permeability may still exhibit reasonable CNS penetration in vivo; i.e., where the unbound fractions and nonspecific tissue binding act as a compensating force. In these instances, the efflux ratio and in vitro blood-brain partition ratio may be used to predict the in vivo blood-brain ratio. This relationship may be extended to account for the differences in CNS penetration observed in vivo between mdr1a/b wild type and knockout mice. In some instances, cross-species differences that might initially seem to be related to differing transporter expression can be rationalized from knowledge of unbound fractions alone. The results presented in this article suggest that the information exists to provide a coherent picture of the nature of CNS penetration in the drug discovery setting, allowing the focus to be shifted away from understanding CNS penetration toward the more important aspect of understanding CNS efficacy.Within the modern drug discovery paradigm, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) play an integral role in the process of compound selection and progression. Much of the impact of DMPK has been caused by its transformation from a largely descriptive discipline to that of a predictive science, fuelled by advances in bioanalysis and in vitro techniques. Hence discovery DMPK provides a powerful means for assessing the risks of taking potential assets into development.Nevertheless, the development of molecules targeted at the central nervous system (CNS) remains a significant challenge caused by the increased regulation and protection afforded to the brain over other organs of the body. The major knowledge gaps are 1) understanding the physicochemical features that determine CNS penetration, 2) understanding the impact of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) on CNS uptake, and 3) providing a coherent measure of CNS penetration that can be related to drug efficacy. Regarding the latter point, although it is important to develop a link between the pharmacokinetics of a molecule and the biophase, arguably the critical issue is one of sufficient access of free drug to the requisite site of action.Numerous models and measures of CNS uptake are available to assist in the search for centrally active agents. In situ brain perfusion techniques have highlighted the good correlation between increasing lipophilicity and CNS permeability. Polar drugs that are subject to paracellular absorption such as atenolol (logD oct,7.4 Ϫ2.1; Artursson, 1990) and sumatriptan (logD oct,7.4 Ϫ1.5;Pascual and Munoz, 2005) show...

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The penetration of drugs into the central nervous system is a composite of both the rate of drug uptake across the blood-brain barrier and the extent of distribution into brain tissue compartments. Clinically, positron emission tomography (PET) is the primary technique for deriving information on drug biodistribution as well as target receptor occupancy. In contrast, rodent models have formed the basis for much of the current understanding of brain penetration within pharmaceutical Drug Discovery. Linking these two areas more effectively would greatly improve the translation of candidate compounds into therapeutic agents. This paper examines two of the major influences on the extent of brain penetration across species, namely plasma protein binding and brain tissue binding. An excellent correlation was noted between unbound brain fractions across species (R(2) > 0.9 rat, pig, and human, n = 21), which is indicative of the high degree of conservation of the central nervous system environment. In vitro estimates of human brain-blood or brain-plasma ratios of marketed central nervous system drugs and PET tracers agree well with in vivo values derived from clinical PET and post-mortem studies. These results suggest that passive diffusion across the blood-brain barrier is an important process for many drugs in humans and highlights the possibility for improved prediction of brain penetration across species.

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Assessing the equilibration of the unbound drug concentrations across the blood-brain barrier (Kp,uu) has progressively replaced the partition coefficient based on the ratio of the total concentration in brain tissue to blood (Kp). Here, in vivo brain distribution studies were performed on a set of central nervous system (CNS)-targeted compounds in both rats and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) genetic knockout mice. Several CNS drugs are characterized by Kp,uu values greater than unity, inferring facilitated uptake across the rodent blood-brain barrier (BBB). Examples are shown in which Kp,uu also increases above unity on knockout of P-gp, highlighting the composite nature of this parameter with respect to facilitated BBB uptake, efflux, and passive diffusion. Several molecules with high Kp,uu values share common structural elements, whereas uptake across the BBB appears more prevalent in the CNS-targeted drug set than the chemical templates being generated within the current lead optimization paradigm. Challenges for identifying high Kp,uu compounds are discussed in the context of acute versus steady-state data and cross-species differences. Evidently, there is a need for better predictive models of human brain Kp,uu.