ENTERAL ABSORPTION OF OCTREOTIDE - ABSORPTION ENHANCEMENT BY POLYOXYETHYLENE-24-CHOLESTEROL ETHER

1 The somatostatin octapeptide-analogue octreotide was absorbed as an intact peptide from the gastro-intestinal tract with an absolute bioavailability of about 0.3% in rats. Administration of octreotide in the presence of polyoxyethylene (24)-cholesterol-ether (POECE) resulted in an about 23 fold increase of bioavailability. 2 In vitro studies with Caco-2 cells showed a dose-dependent increase in octreotide permeation with increasing doses of coadministered POECE. The use of [H-3]-polyethyleneglycol (PEG) 4000 as an extracellular marker also indicated that higher doses of POECE may partly enhance paracellular transport of macromolecules. 3 By means of fluorescence microscopy it was shown that transepithelial transport of the fluorescent octreotide analogue (4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazol [NBD] labelled octreotide) was enhanced by the addition of POECE. Besides an increased enterocyte uptake, there was evidence of enhanced partition of NBD-octreotide into the intercellular space between enterocytes after co-administration of POECE. In addition, there appeared to be changes in the hepatic topographic disposition of NBD-octreotide when it was given together with POECE compared with its administration alone. 4 In a study in healthy volunteers, 16 mg POECE significantly enhanced by 8 fold the absorption of octreotide after oral administration.