In Silico Prediction of Biliary Excretion of Drugs in Rats Based on Physicochemical Properties

Evaluating biliary excretion, a major elimination pathway for many compounds, is important in drug discovery. The bile duct-cannulated (BDC) rat model is commonly used to determine the percentage of dose excreted as intact parent into bile. However, a study using BDC rats is time-consuming and cost-ineffective. The present report describes a computational model that has been established to predict biliary excretion of intact parent in rats as a percentage of dose. The model was based on biliary excretion data of 50 Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. compounds with diverse chemical structures. The compounds were given intravenously at <10 mg/kg to BDC rats, and bile was collected for at least 8 h after dosing. Recoveries of intact parents in bile were determined by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Biliary excretion was found to have a fairly good correlation with polar surface area ( r = 0.76) and with free energy of aqueous solvation (Δ G solv aq) ( r = −0.67). In addition, biliary excretion was also highly corrected with the presence of a carboxylic acid moiety in the test compounds ( r = 0.87). An equation to calculate biliary excretion in rats was then established based on physiochemical properties via a multiple linear regression. This model successfully predicted rat biliary excretion for 50 BMS compounds ( r = 0.94) and for 25 previously reported compounds ( r = 0.86) whose structures are markedly different from those of the 50 BMS compounds. Additional calculations were conducted to verify the reliability of this computation model.