Benzodiazepines medazepam and midazolam are activators of pregnane X receptor and weak inducers of CYP3A4: investigation in primary cultures of human hepatocytes and hepatocarcinoma cell lines.

Article Details

Citation

Copy to clipboard

Vrzal R, Kubesova K, Pavek P, Dvorak Z

Benzodiazepines medazepam and midazolam are activators of pregnane X receptor and weak inducers of CYP3A4: investigation in primary cultures of human hepatocytes and hepatocarcinoma cell lines.

Toxicol Lett. 2010 Mar 15;193(2):183-8. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2010.01.004. Epub 2010 Jan 18.

PubMed ID

20080160 [ View in PubMed

]

Abstract

Benzodiazepines have wide-spread used in pharmacotherapy for their anxiolytic, myorelaxant, hypnotic, amnesic and anticonvulsive properties. Despite benzodiazepines are used in clinics over 50 years, they have not been surprisingly tested for capability to induce major drug-metabolizing cytochromes P450. In the current study, we have examined the potency of Alprazolam, Bromazepam, Chlordiazepoxide, Clonazepam, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Medazepam, Midazolam, Nitrazepam, Oxazepam, Tetrazepam and Triazolam to induce CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 in primary cultures of human hepatocytes. Benzodiazepines were tested in therapeutic concentrations and in concentrations corresponding to their plasma levels in intoxicated patients. We found weak but significant induction of CYP3A4 mRNA by Midazolam and Medazepam, while other benzodiazepines did not induce CYP3A4 expression. None of the tested compounds induced CYP1A2 mRNA in three independent human hepatocytes cultures. In addition, employing gene reporter assays with transiently transfected hepatocarcinoma cells, we found that tested benzodiazepines did not activate aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), whereas Midazolam and Medazepam slightly activated pregnane X receptor (PXR). Consistently, two-hybrid mammalian assay using hybrid fusion plasmids GAL4-PXR ligand-binding domain (LBD) and VP16-SRC-1-receptor-interacting domain (RID) confirmed PXR activation by Midazolam and Medazepam. In conclusion, Alprazolam, Bromazepam, Chlordiazepoxide, Clonazepam, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Nitrazepam, Oxazepam, Tetrazepam and Triazolam can be considered as safe drugs in term of their inability to induce PXR- and AhR-dependent cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP1A2 and CYP3A4. Medazepam and Midazolam slightly activated pregnane X receptor and displayed weak potency to induce CYP3A4 mRNA in human hepatocytes.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Enzymes

Drug	Enzyme	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Nitrazepam	Cytochrome P450 3A4	Protein	Humans	Unknown	Substrate	Details

Pharmaco-transcriptomics

Drug	Drug Groups	Gene	Gene ID	Change	Interaction	Chromosome
Midazolam	Approved Illicit	CYP3A4	1576	upregulated	Midazolam results in increased expression of CYP3A4 mRNA	7q22.1