Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To investigate the permeability of 5-fluorouracil and carmofur on Caco-2 cell monolayers and the influence of their physicochemical characteristics such as logP, pKa, molecular weight and aqueous solubility on their permeability was determined. METHODS The information of pKa, aqueous solubility etc. was got from the references; logP values was predicted by the ChemPlus modules in the software of HyperChem V5.0; the integrity of Caco-2 cell monolayers was examined by the TEER values and the permeability of Lucifer yellow, performed the permeability assay, calculated the apparent permeability coefficients (Papp). RESULTS The logP of 5-fluorouracil and Carmofur were -0.96 and 2.63, respectively, the TEER values was in range of 760-965 Ω·cm-2, the Papp of Lucifer yellow was (1.89±0.78) ×10-7 cm·s-1, and confluent cell monolayers in tight-junction integrity have formed, the Papp value of Carmofur is 10 folds of 5-fluorouracil. CONCLUSION logP played a decisive role in the permeability on the Caco-2 cell monolayers, and physicochemical characteristics of 5-fluorouracil and carmofur influenced their permeability differently.