In Vitro Drug Metabolism Studies Using Human Liver Microsomes

Metabolism of most pharmaceutical drugs occurs in the liver. In drug metabolism, enzymes convert drugs to highly water-soluble metabolites to facilitate excretion from the body. Thus, in vitro models for studying drug metabolism usually target hepatocytes or subcellular liver fractions like microsomes, cytosols, or S9 fractions with high concentrations of specific enzymes. The most popular subcellular fraction used during drug discovery tends to be the microsomes, as these are easy to prepare and store, are amenable to high throughput screening, and are a relatively low-cost option. Understanding the metabolic stability and kinetics of glucuronidation of an investigational drug is crucial for predicting the pharmacokinetic parameters that support dosing and dose frequency. This chapter provides detailed information about metabolite profiling, metabolic stability, glucuronidation kinetics, reactive metabolites identification, CYP enzyme inhibition, and general protocols using human liver microsomes.