Drug Metab Dispos-2000-Houston-246-54.pdf

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DRUG METABOLISM AND DISPOSITION
Copyright © 2000 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Vol. 28, No. 3
Printed in U.S.A.

Review
IN VITRO-IN VIVO SCALING OF CYP KINETIC DATA NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE
CLASSICAL MICHAELIS-MENTEN MODEL
J. BRIAN HOUSTON

AND

KATHRYN E. KENWORTHY1

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
(Received August 11, 1999; accepted November 2, 1999)

This paper is available online at http://www.dmd.org

ABSTRACT:
inhibition are discussed; the former results in an initial lag in the
rate-substrate concentration profile to generate a sigmoidal curve
whereas the latter is characterized by a convex curve as Vmax is not
maintained at high substrate concentrations. When positive cooperativity occurs, we suggest the use of CLmax, the maximal clearance resulting from autoactivation, as a substitute for CLint. The
impact of heteroactivation on this approach is also of importance.
In the case of negative cooperativity, care in using the Vmax/Km
approach to CLint determination must be taken. Examples of substrates displaying each type of kinetic behavior are discussed for
various recombinant CYP enzymes, and possible artifactual
sources of atypical rate-concentration curves are outlined. Finally,
the consequences of ignoring atypical Michaelis-Menten kinetic
relationships are examined, and the inconsistencies reported for
both different substrates and sources of recombinant CYP3A
noted.

There have been several recent reports highlighting unusual in vitro
kinetic behavior for the metabolism of various drugs by certain
members of the cytochrome P450 (CYP)2 enzyme system, in particular CYP3A4 (Ueng et al., 1997; Korzekwa et al., 1998; Shou et al.,
1999). This review provides a critical examination of metabolism
rate-substrate concentration relationships that cannot be described by
the classic hyperbola consistent with the Michaelis-Menten model and
considers some of the consequences that arise from this kinetic
behavior. Specifically, the cases of autoactivation and autoinhibition
are discussed. The former results in an initial lag in the rate-substrate
concentration profile generating a sigmoidal curve (Fig. 1A) and the
latter is characterized by a convex curve due to Vmax not being

maintained at high substrate concentrations (Fig. 1B). Emphasis is
placed on the possible constraints these findings place on the ability to
extrapolate in vitro data on drug metabolism to predict in vivo
pharmacokinetic characteristics, such as metabolic stability and inhibitory drug interaction potential.

K.E.K. was supported by a SmithKline Beecham studentship.
1
Present address: Department of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics,
SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, The Frythe, Welwyn, Herts AL6 9AR, UK.
2
Abbreviations used are: CYP, cytochrome P450; ANF, ␣-naphthoflavone;
␤-LM, ␤-lymphoblastoid; CLint, intrinsic clearance; CLmax, maximal clearance due
to autoactivation; Ksi, inhibition constant for substrate inhibition; n, the Hill coefficient; S50, substrate concentration resulting in 50% of Vmax; Smax, substrate
concentration resulting in maximal clearance due to autoactivation.
Send reprint requests to: Dr. J.B. Houston, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL UK. E-mail:
[email protected]

Use of the Michaelis-Menten Model for Describing Drug
Metabolite Kinetics In Vitro
CYPs are responsible for the metabolism of a wide variety of drugs
and other foreign compounds and their unusual lack of substrate
specificity may explain many of the complexities in the operation of
this family of isoforms (Guengerich, 1995, 1997; Lewis, 1996). However, the kinetic properties of these enzymes are often described
satisfactorily by the classical Michaelis-Menten model (eq. 1):
v⫽

V max ⫻ S
Km ⫹ S

(1)

where v is the velocity of the metabolic reaction, and S is the substrate
concentration. For CYP, as with many enzymes, the Km should not be
assigned any mechanistic meaning as it merely describes the substrate
concentration at which the rate of metabolism is 50% of Vmax.
Most metabolite kinetic studies involve the use of hepatic microsomes, which contain a mixture of several CYP isoforms with overlapping specificity, and the observed rates of metabolism reflect the

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Strategies for the prediction of in vivo drug clearance from in vitro
drug metabolite kinetic data are well established for the rat. In this
animal species, metabolism rate-substrate concentration relationships can commonly be described by the classic hyperbola consistent with the Michaelis-Menten model and simple scaling of the
parameter intrinsic clearance (CLint ⴚ the ratio of Vmax to Km) is
particularly valuable. The in vitro scaling of kinetic data from human tissue is more complex, particularly as many substrates for
cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4, the dominant human CYP, show nonhyperbolic metabolism rate-substrate concentration curves. This
review critically examines these types of data, which require the
adoption of an enzyme model with multiple sites showing cooperative binding for the drug substrate, and considers the constraints
this kinetic behavior places on the prediction of in vivo pharmacokinetic characteristics, such as metabolic stability and inhibitory
drug interaction potential. The cases of autoactivation and auto-

IN VIVO PREDICTIONS FROM NONHYPERBOLIC IN VITRO KINETICS

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FIG. 1. Hyperbolic and nonhyperbolic relationships between rate of metabolic formation and substrate concentration.
Substrate dependence for rates of metabolism (A and B), Eadie-Hofstee plots (C and D), and clearance plots (E and F) for enzymes showing either standard
Michaelis-Menten (dashed curves), sigmoidal (solid curves in A, C, and E), or substrate inhibition (solid curves in B, D, and F) kinetics. For each curve both Vmax and
Km (S50) are constant (10 and 50, respectively), and n and Ksi values are 1.5 and 75, respectively.

net effect of several protein-drug interactions. In some cases there
may be a smoothing over of any irregularities and the kinetics may
look hyperbolic due to the ‘canceling out’ of different kinetic features.
In other cases, complications can arise due to the differing impact of
several isoforms at different substrate concentrations. Such complications are absent when purified and recombinant enzymes are used,
and for many drugs metabolic kinetics can be analyzed appropriately
by the Michaelis-Menten equation (for example, Tassaneeyakul et al.,
1993; Veronese et al., 1993; Zhang and Kaminsky, 1995; Ellis et al.,
1996; Rodrigues et al., 1996; Yamazaki et al., 1996a; Olesen and
Linnet, 1997; Lasker et al., 1998).
One valuable application of the Michaelis-Menten model has been

in the area of scaling in vitro kinetic data to predict the in vivo
clearance of drugs (Houston, 1994). As therapeutic drug concentrations rarely approach the Km, the first order limit of eq. 1 is applicable
to describe the rate of metabolism in vivo. The ratio of Vmax to Km
provides the parameter, intrinsic clearance (CLint), which defines the
rate of metabolism for a given drug concentration (eq. 2):
v
V max
V max
⫽
3
S Km ⫹ S
Km

(2)

Alternatively a single point determination of CLint may be made at
one substrate concentration, provided that this concentration is mark-

248

HOUSTON AND KENWORTHY
TABLE 1
Examples of nonhyperbolic rate-substrate concentration profiles for CYP substrates using microsomal preparations of human liver and heterologously
expressed systems

Sigmoidal curves

Aflatoxin (Ueng et al., 1997 in E. coli and RFP)
Amitriptylinea (Schmider et al., 1995 in HLM; Shaw et al., 1997 in HLM and RFP; Ueng et al., 1997 in E. coli)
Carbamazepineb (Kerr et al., 1994 in HLM and VV; Korzekwa et al., 1998 in VV),
Desmethyladinazolam (Venkatakrishnan et al., 1998 in BV)
Diazepamb (Andersson et al., 1994 in HLM; Kenworthy et al., 1999b in ␤-LM; Shou et al., 1999 in BV)
Estradiol (Kerlan et al., 1992 in HLM; Ueng et al., 1997 in ␤-LM)
Nifedipinec (Shaw et al., 1997 in RFP and BV)
Nordiazepam (D. Carlile, N. Randolph, M. Bayliss and J.B.H., submitted in HLM and ␤-LM)
Progesteroned (Ueng et al., 1997 in ␤-LM; Domanski et al., 1998 in E. coli)
Testosteronee (Lee et al., 1995 in HLM and BV; Shaw et al., 1997 in HLM and BV; Ueng et al., 1997 in E. coli)
Convex curves

Midazolamf (Kronbach et al., 1989 in HLM; Ghosal et al., 1996 in HLM and ␤-LM)
Nifedipinec (Kenworthy et al., 1999b in ␤-LM)
Terfenadineg (Kenworthy et al., 1999b in ␤-LM)
a

Not seen in BV by Shaw et al., 1997.
Not seen in E. coli by Ueng et al., 1997.
Both sigmoidicity and convex curves reported for this substrate.
d
Not seen in BV by Yamazaki and Shimada, 1997.
e
Not seen in RFP by Shaw et al., 1997.
f
Not seen in ␤-LM by Gorski et al., 1994.
g
Not seen in RFP by Rodrigues et al., 1995.
HLM, human liver microsomes; VV, vaccinia virus; BV, baculovirus; RFP, recombinant fusion protein.
b

edly less (⬍10%) of the Km value. For the present purposes the ratio
v/S will be regarded as the clearance (CL) for a given substrate
concentration.
As an in vitro parameter, CLint, expresses inherent metabolic activity in terms of unit of enzyme (often per picomole for the CYP
recombinant enzyme, but more frequently per milligram of microsomal protein or per million cells). This descriptor of the subsystem
(whether enzyme, microsomes, or isolated cells) can be scaled to the
corresponding in vivo parameter when the total content of enzyme
(microsomal protein or hepatocellularity) for the liver is known
(Houston, 1994). However, the full capacity of the organ will only be
estimated when appropriate allowance is made for the consequences
of both parallel and sequential pathways of metabolism. The integration of the total hepatocellular activity with the other physiological
determinants of liver clearance, namely, blood flow and drug binding
in the blood matrix, requires the use of a pharmacokinetic model (e.g.,
the venous equilibration liver model; Wilkinson, 1987) and the assumptions of these models should be fully appreciated. To complete
the sequence of data manipulations and provide the in vivo clearance
prediction, consideration must be given to parallel routes of elimination (e.g., renal excretion) as well as to extrahepatic sites of metabolism. Despite its simplistic view of a complex process, this scaling
strategy has been found to be valuable for predicting in vivo clearance
from both microsomes and freshly isolated hepatocytes from rat liver
(Houston and Carlile, 1997; Iwatsubo et al., 1997; Lin and Lu, 1997).
However, there has yet be general agreement on the level of precision that
can be realistically accepted from such a crude procedure (Houston and
Carlile, 1997), and the issue of variability must be addressed before
routine application can be extended to human tissue (Carlile et al., 1999).
Deviations from the Michaelis-Menten Relationship for CYP
One of the assumptions of the Michaelis-Menten model implicit in
applying the above scaling strategy is the premise that substrateenzyme interactions occur at only one site per enzyme and that each
site operates independently from the others. There is abundant evidence that for at least one major human cytochrome, CYP3A4, this is
not the case (for example: Schwab et al., 1988; Andersson et al., 1994;
Shou et al., 1994, 1999; Lee et al., 1995; Ueng et al., 1997; Wang et

al., 1997; Korzekwa et al., 1998). There are particular kinetic features
for several CYP3A4 substrates that cannot be explained within the
context of the Michaelis-Menten model and require the adoption of an
enzyme model with multiple sites showing cooperative binding for the
drug substrate. Recent evidence suggests that CYP3A may not be the
only CYP isoform prone to these features (Ekins et al., 1998; Korzekwa et al., 1998; Venkatakrishnan et al., 1998).
The number of drugs whose in vitro kinetics show deviations from
the standard hyperbolic rate-substrate concentration relationship has
grown considerably since the first demonstration of autoactivation for
6␤-hydroxylation of progesterone in 1988 (Schwab et al., 1988).
Examples of drugs showing both positive or negative cooperative
effects are given in Table 1. As stated earlier, two characteristic types
of curves have been reported: 1) sigmoidal, believed to result from
autoactivation, and 2) convex, resulting from substrate inhibition.
Both give characteristic curved Eadie-Hofstee plots (see Fig. 1, C and
D) that deviate from the linear relationship expected from the Michaelis-Menten model and are useful diagnostic plots for identifying such
behavior. This can be particularly valuable when a wide substrate
concentration range has been studied and sigmoidicity is occurring at
relatively low concentrations and can be easily missed on the conventional rate plot.
Negative cooperativity could alternatively lead to an apparent biphasic Michaelis-Menten curve, identical in form to that frequently
observed when two enzymes (a high-affinity, low-capacity enzyme
and a low-affinity, high-capacity enzyme) contribute to a particular
metabolic reaction. However, to date there appear to be only two
examples of this behavior in recombinant CYP3A4 systems (Clarke,
1998; Korzekwa et al., 1998). However, this situation may be a
reflection of the more extensive use of human liver microsomes rather
than pure enzyme systems, as well as the lack of sufficient data points.
Our considerations center on the two more commonly reported effects
illustrated in Fig. 1. Although there is much to be elucidated at the
molecular level concerning the actual binding processes responsible
for these multisite interactions, the net consequences in the kinetic
profile can be addressed now.
Two Cases of Nonhyperbolic In Vitro Kinetics. These two cases
of homotropic effects are of importance as neither allow estimation of

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c

IN VIVO PREDICTIONS FROM NONHYPERBOLIC IN VITRO KINETICS
CLint in vitro by the standard method previously described. Figure 1
contrasts the kinetic features of autoactivation and substrate inhibition
with the hyperbolic case and shows the relationships between rate of
metabolism and substrate concentration for the three cases. The
dashed and solid curves (Fig. 1A) refer to the Michaelis-Menten
model and the sigmoidal rate plot, respectively. The latter can be
described by the Hill equation (eq. 3):
v⫽

V max ⫻ Sn
S 50n ⫹ Sn

(3)

v⫽

V max
共1 ⫹ 共K m/S兲 ⫹ 共S/K si兲兲

(4)

where Ksi is the constant describing the substrate inhibition interaction.
The corresponding Eadie-Hofstee plots, which are valuable diagnostic plots, are shown in Fig. 1, C and D. Whereas hyperbolic curves
transform to a linear function, characteristic curves are evident for
both sigmoidicity and substrate inhibition. Again dashed lines and
solid lines denote the Michaelis-Menten and nonMichaelis-Menten
cases, respectively. Figure 1, E and F, shows these cases in the form
of clearance plots (v/S versus S), which is helpful within the present
context for equating in vitro with potential in vivo characteristics. The
clearance relationship is plotted against the log of the substrate concentration to accentuate the independence of clearance on concentration in the initial section of the curve (substrate concentrations ⬍ 10%
of the Km value) which relates to the Vmax/Km or CLint term (dashed
curve for the Michaelis-Menten case).
With autoactivation, the sigmoidal rate plot translates to a gradual
increase in clearance as substrate concentration is increased to reach
a maximum (solid curve in Fig. 1E) followed by a decrease in
clearance due to saturation, as seen for the Michaelis-Menten case.
This relationship can be described by eq. 5:
v V max ⫻ Sn⫺1
⫽
S
S 50n ⫹ Sn

(5)

In the case of substrate inhibition, clearance initially follows the
Michaelis-Menten case but decreases more rapidly in the saturation
portion of the curve due to the impact of the inhibition effect (solid
curve, eq. 6). It is apparent that at low substrate concentrations
(relative to Km) and provided Ksi is appreciably larger than Km, this
relationship will have the same limit at low values of S as the
Michaelis-Menten case (eq. 2):
v
V max
⫽
S 共S ⫹ K m ⫹ 共S2/K si兲兲

(6)

Mechanistic View. Equations 3 and 4 are empirical in nature, and
there are advantages in not assigning a more detailed enzyme model

where one is not required. However, the unusual kinetics associated
with CYP3A have been attributed to the binding of multiple substrate
molecules to the enzyme (Shou et al., 1994; Ueng et al., 1997; Harlow
and Halpert, 1998; Korzekwa et al., 1998), and it is important to
consider the interactions occurring between these multiple sites rather
than purely assigning a curve to the data. A more precise description
of molecular events incorporating the binding of multiple substrate
molecules can be achieved with a steady-state, rapid equilibrium
approach to the analysis of the interactions (Segel, 1975). However, it
is important to be aware that such models do not distinguish between
the simultaneous binding of multiple molecules within a single active
site and the binding of two molecules to two distinct sites, both
situations may result in sigmoidal kinetics or substrate inhibition. The
following kinetic scheme and equation (eq. 7) can be derived for
substrate interactions at two separate binding sites.

关S兴 ␤ 关S兴 2
⫹
v
Ks
␣ K s2
⫽
V max
2关S兴 关S兴 2
1⫹
⫹
Ks
␣ K s2

(7)

In this scheme Ks represents the substrate dissociation constant and
Kp is the effective catalytic rate constant. For enzymes with two
binding sites, Vmax is equivalent to 2 Kp/[E]t, where [E]t is the total
enzyme concentration. The Ks changes by the factor ␣ when a second
substrate molecule binds to the enzyme. When ␣ ⬍ 1, the binding
affinity for the second substrate molecule is increased, enhancing the
overall product formation rate resulting in autoactivation. An alternative mechanism for autoactivation involves a change to the Kp by the
factor ␤ when both substrate sites are occupied. When ␤ ⬎ 1, the
overall rate of the reaction is increased and if ␤ ⬍ 1 the overall rate
is decreased. Thus this model can be used to describe data from
substrates showing both sigmoidicity and substrate inhibition. It is
possible that some cases of normal hyperbolic kinetics may result
from situations where ␣ and ␤ are equivalent to 1, or when the net
effects of interactions with Ks and Kp are canceled out.
There are no direct relationships between parameters from this
model and the Hill coefficient, n, or the substrate inhibition constant,
Ksi. A positive cooperative effect or sigmoidicity can be observed
when the value of ␣ is ⬍1 or the value of ␤ is ⬎1. Generally using
a value of ␣ ⬍ 1 to describe sigmoidal data gives a more realistic
approximation of Vmax that is equivalent to the maximal velocity
calculated from the Hill equation. A negative cooperative effect is
observed when the value of ␣ is ⬎1, resulting in a biphasic kinetic
profile, or when the value of ␤ is ⬍1, resulting in substrate inhibition.
In theory a combination of both positive and negative effects may be
observed resulting from a change to both ␣ and ␤ simultaneously.
Other substrates of CYP3A4 or activators/inhibitors may also interact with ␣ and ␤ and can result in activation or atypical inhibition
profiles. Heterotropic effectors of CYP3A substrates displaying nonhyperbolic curves commonly may alter the kinetic profile to generate
a hyperbolic curve; for example, activation by ␣-naphthoflavone
(ANF) of estradiol (Kerlan et al., 1992; Ueng et al., 1997), proges-

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where substrate concentration resulting in 50% of Vmax (S50) is analogous
to the Km parameter in eq. 1, and n is the Hill coefficient. As in the case
of eq. 1 no mechanistic meaning should be associated with either of these
parameters; they are merely useful descriptors of the data.
For the solid curve in Fig. 1B (substrate inhibition case), although
a hyperbolic-type curve is apparent at low concentrations, there is no
clearly defined plateau at high substrate concentrations and rates
decrease as substrate concentrations are further increased. Hence with
substrate inhibition, the rate plot is convex, and it is notable that the
maximum rate falls short of the true Vmax for the reaction. Substrate
inhibition can be considered to be analogous to an uncompetitive type
of inhibition mechanism and can be described by eq. 4:

249

250

HOUSTON AND KENWORTHY

terone (Domanski et al., 1998), diazepam (Andersson et al., 1994),
and carbamazepine (Kerr et al., 1994) metabolism. Some inhibitors
may also produce a similar effect, for example, diazepam and testosterone inhibition of terfenadine metabolism (Kenworthy, 1999); and
ANF inhibition of testosterone and amitriptyline metabolism (Ueng et
al., 1997).
The difficulty in assigning unique models to explain cooperative
effects has long been appreciated, and there may be several solutions
that satisfactorily model the same data set (Schmider et al., 1996). The
correct solution cannot be fully identified without additional knowledge of the substrate-binding characteristics of the enzyme. Some
workers have favored a model-independent approach through the use
of polynomials (Childs and Bardsley, 1975; Mayhew et al., 1995).
Are There In Vivo Consequences?

Substantial substrate depletion or sequential metabolism during the incubation
period
Saturable futile binding of substrate or metabolites within the incubation matrix
Saturable cellular efflux processes
Poorly defined limit of analytical quantitation
Aqueous solubility limitations

progesterone) and dietary flavones are established as the prototypic
activators. Thus the phenomenon of activation must be incorporated
into the treatment of in vitro data when prediction of in vivo events is
the aim of the study. This will not be a trivial issue and heteroactivation is likely to be an important source of variability between
individuals due to different dietary intakes and hormonal changes,
which will compound further the issue of variability in expression of
these enzymes.
Calculation of Maximal Clearance due to Autoactivation (CLmax)
Recent reviews assessing the utility of in vitro predictions of drug
clearance (Houston and Carlile, 1997; Iwatsubo et al., 1997) have
shown that unsuccessful examples are usually cases of underprediction. This is particularly evident for human hepatic microsomes. One
explanation may lie in unidentified sigmoidal kinetic characteristics
and the lack of any allowance for autoactivation.
Consideration of Fig. 1E shows there to be a well defined maximum
for the clearance of a drug which is subject to autoactivation. Thus
CLmax provides an estimate of the highest clearance attained as
substrate concentration increases before any saturation of the enzyme
sites. Thus if the assumption is made that in vivo activation occurs via
endogenous activators (e.g., steroids), then CLmax may be an appropriate parameter for describing the salient feature of the subsystem
that can be used for predictive purposes. Equation 8 describes the
relationship between the various parameters in the Hill equation and
CLmax (derivation shown in appendix).
V max
v
共n ⫺ 1兲
⫽
⫻
关S兴
S 50
n共n ⫺ 1兲 1/n

(8)

For simplicity, the second term containing the n values can be
defined as H, the Hill factor, thus eq. 8 can be rewritten as eq. 9.
v
V max ⫻ H
⫽
关S兴
S 50

(9)

There is a minimum value for H of 0.5, which corresponds to n ⫽
2. When 1 ⬍ n ⬍ 2, H ranges from 1 to 0.5 and as n increases from
2 to 5 the value of H gradually increases from 0.5 to 0.6.
It must be recognized that there are several artifactual sources of
sigmoidicity. Therefore it is essential to eliminate the effect of any
nonenzymatic processes that may impinge on the shape of the ratesubstrate concentration profile (Witherow and Houston, 1999). Table
2 lists some of the processes that would lower the concentration of
substrate available to the enzyme relative to the concentration calculated, after the addition of a particular quantity of substrate to the
incubation. Three of these processes involve saturable events, and the
impact would be concentration-dependent—maximal at the low concentrations and tapering off to no effect at high concentrations.
Ideally turnover of substrate should be ⬍10% to comply with initial
rate conditions, yet analytical limitations may prevent this, and correction for loss of substrate during the incubation is required to avoid

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It is important to address the practical problem of dealing with data
that cannot be described by the Michaelis-Menten model with a view
to making in vivo predictions, particularly as it is the major human
cytochrome, CYP3A4, for which these complications have been first
identified. Two questions need to be considered. First, are these
kinetic characteristics solely an in vitro phenomenon, and second,
how can we accommodate these characteristics into strategies for in
vitro-in vivo scaling? Whether autoactivation and/or substrate inhibition occur in vivo is not the moot point, as the initial steps of any in
vitro-in vivo scaling strategy are to describe fully the in vitro data and
then abstract a useful parameter(s) for extrapolation. Thus the in vitro
subsystem will always need to be characterized in a fully comprehensive manner with limits that may extend beyond those observed in
vivo.
The phenomenon of substrate inhibition is unlikely to be of consequence in vivo due to the high concentrations required. The in vivo
importance of autoactivation is difficult to gauge, however, as there is
no strong evidence for the manifestation of this cooperative effect in
vivo. The in vivo detection of autoactivation would require detailed
and judiciously planned studies to provide unequivocal evidence for
its reality. This has yet to be carried out; however, an early report of
CYP heteroactivation in vivo came from the group of Conney (Lasker
et al., 1984). These investigators provided evidence for in vivo activation of radiolabeled zoxazolamine metabolism by flavone in neonatal rats based on metabolite formation (measured by recovery of
tritiated water in the total body homogenate). Coadministration of
flavone resulted in a dose-dependent increase in metabolite recovery
at a fixed time point and a time course consistent with activation.
However, in view of the crude nature of the study, additional experimentation is required to eliminate alternative or additional explanations that may contribute to these observations.
Autoactivation is not a phenomenon limited to microsomal incubations. A recent study has shown sigmoidicity for N-demethylation
of dextromethorphan in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes as well as in
rat hepatic microsomes (Witherow and Houston, 1999). It was proposed that any endogenous activator(s) would be washed out of both
in vitro preparations during either the isolation procedures, in the case
of hepatocytes, or the homogenization/centrifugation steps, in the
microsomal case. It is of interest that the extent of sigmoidicity (as
judged by the Hill coefficient) for this reaction is more pronounced in
isolated hepatocytes than in microsomes. A similar situation has been
observed for both the N-demethylation and the 3-hydroxylation of
diazepam in rat in vitro systems (L. E. Witherow, unpublished observations). Also, heteroactivation of midazolam metabolism by ANF
has been demonstrated in human hepatocytes (Maenpaa et al., 1998).
It would appear prudent to assume that in vivo the CYP3A system
is activated as endogenous steroid hormones (e.g., testosterone and

TABLE 2
Examples of artifactual sources for sigmoidicity and convexity in rate-substrate
concentration profiles

251

IN VIVO PREDICTIONS FROM NONHYPERBOLIC IN VITRO KINETICS
TABLE 3
Kinetic parameters for CYP3A4 substrates showing sigmoidicity
Substrate

Pathway

Vmax
⫺1

␮M

8.1
1
0.9
0.1
9
12
13
30
2.7
3.7
35
45
46
19
150
54

43
27
27
33
490
330
221
140
152
13
37
14
32
51
25
160

min

Aflatoxin B1
Aflatoxin B1
Aflatoxin B1
Aflatoxin B1
Amitriptyline
Amitriptyline
Carbamazepine
Diazepam
Diazepam
Estradiol
Nifedipine
Nifedipine
Progesterone
Testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone

3-hydroxylation
3-hydroxylation
8,9-epoxidation
8,9-epoxidation
N-demethylation
N-demethylation
10,11-epoxidation
3-hydroxylation
N-demethylation
2-hydroxylation
Oxidation
Oxidation
6␤-hydroxylation
6␤-hydroxylation
6␤-hydroxylation
6␤-hydroxylation

S50

n

H
factor

2.4
3.6
4.1
3.8
1.5
1.4
1.48
1.42
1.20
1.3
1.4
2
1.1
1.45
1.7
1.3

0.51
0.55
0.57
0.56
0.53
0.55
0.53
0.54
0.64
0.58
0.55
0.50
0.74
0.54
0.51
0.58

CLmax

␮l/min/pmol CYP

Reference, System

␮M

50
35
36
43
309
172
135
76
40
5.1
19
14
4
29
20
63

Ueng et al., 1997, E. coli
Ueng et al., 1997, RFP
Ueng et al., 1997, E. coli
Ueng et al., 1997, RFP
Shaw et al., 1997, RFP
Ueng et al., 1997, E. coli
Korzekwa et al., 1998, VV
Kenworthy, 1999, ␤-LM
Kenworthy, 1999, ␤-LM
Ueng et al., 1997, ␤-LM
Shaw et al., 1997, RFP
Shaw et al., 1997, BV
Ueng et al., 1997, ␤-LM
Kenworthy, 1999, ␤-LM
Shaw et al., 1997, BV
Ueng et al., 1997, E. coli

much greater effect may result. The additive effect may be restricted
to low substrate concentrations and may plateau as the enzyme becomes saturated and at high concentrations of activator inhibition may
be seen due to competition at the binding site(s). However, this will
not necessarily be the case as heteroactivation may be additive at all
concentrations if the activator binds at a separate site, or if the
allosteric change in the binding of the activator is much greater that
with the substrate itself.
Figure 2 shows an example of one type of situation with the
3-hydroxylation of diazepam by microsomes (obtained from the Gentest Corporation) from ␤-lymphoblastoid (␤-LM) cells expressing
human CYP3A4 and CYP reductase (Kenworthy, 1999). At 120 ␮M,
the enzyme is fully autoactivated and the maximum clearance is
attained (0.06 ␮l/min/pmol CYP). More activation may be observed at
this concentration by the addition of testosterone as a heteroactivator.
However, more substantial activation is seen at lower substrate concentrations and there is a clear trend to lower values of Smax as the
testosterone concentration and CLmax increase 2-fold.
This raises the philosophical issue of how to define activation. Is it
full activation by whatever means, or maximal attainable for the
substrate without more supplementation of activators? This will always be an imponderable issue for in vitro studies. Until the precise
nature of in vivo activators are known, their appropriate concentrations and the likely extent of their effects cannot be addressed.
Consequences of Ignoring Nonhyperbolic Kinetic Behavior
Although the above phenomena are commonly seen in kinetic
profiles, they are not always appreciated by the investigators, and
several examples exist of standard Michaelis-Menten hyperbolic
curves forced through the data rather than the adoption of more
suitable models. In other cases the paucity of data points precludes
any meaningful selection of an alternative model. What will the
consequences be of ignoring the nonhyperbolic nature of a kinetic
profile and fitting the Michaelis-Menten equation? The extent of error
and the consequences when scaled for in vivo prediction can be
considered for three situations:
1. For substrate inhibition, the consequences are clear in Fig. 1B.
Substantial underestimation of Vmax will occur by merely ignoring the
high concentration data points and forcing a standard MichaelisMenten model through the remaining lower substrate concentration
data. Also, Km would be poorly estimated. Thus there is a need for full
description of the profile to allow for the impact of this phenomenon
if CLint is to be calculated from the Vmax/Km. Alternatively v/S for low

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artifactual conclusions. Similar care is required to avoid sequential
metabolism complications.
Futile binding (Obach, 1996, 1997) has recently received attention
as a source of complications for in vitro work and it is frequently
related to the protein content of the incubation. However, this may be
of less concern with the use of recombinant enzymes as the high level
of expression removes the need to incubate with high protein concentrations and reduces the opportunity for futile binding to protein/lipid
sites. Nevertheless, cases of sigmoidicity for all microsomal preparations should be confirmed at more than one protein concentration to
eliminate this artifact. An additional consideration that arises with the
use of cellular systems is the need to evaluate the role of active
transporter systems to detect any inconsistency between cellular and
media concentrations of drug substrates. If the dissociation constant
associated with either futile binding or cellular efflux is significantly
less than the Km for metabolism, sigmoidicity could arise in the
rate-substrate concentration profile in the absence of any enzyme
autoactivation.
Other reasons for sigmoidicity or convex rate-substrate concentration profiles include analytical and solubility issues, which result in a
lack confidence in the data for the extremes of the concentration
range. Finally it must be stated that a minimum of ten data points,
suitably dispersed over the curve, are required before sigmoidicity can
be considered as a suitable description of a data set.
It is of interest to note that the substrate concentration at which
CLmax occurs (Smax) is a function of both S50 and n (see Appendix).
This will vary considerably among drugs, as illustrated in Table 3; the
lowest being 4 ␮M for progesterone and the highest over 100 ␮M for
amitriptyline. Smax is in all cases below the S50 except for the aflatoxin
B1 metabolites for which the n values are greater than for the other
substrates shown. For four drugs there are data in more than one
expression system. In all cases there is good agreement between the
parameters, Smax and S50, although both Vmax and CLmax differ for
each expression system. The same trend for these four parameters is
apparent when the two pathways of metabolism for diazepam and
aflatoxin B1 are compared. The full impact of the activation of
CYP3A4 in vivo may be difficult to assess as the concentrations of
heteroactivator(s) as well as drug concentrations will need to be taken
into account.
Heteroactivation of CYP3A Reactions. It is of interest to speculate that the effects of a heteroactivator on a CYP3A reaction can be
additive to autoactivation. As the binding site(s) and/or the affinity for
heteroactivators is likely to be different from those of the substrate, a

0.096
0.021
0.019
0.002
0.010
0.020
0.031
0.12
0.011
0.166
0.52
1.61
1.06
0.20
3.05
0.20

Smax

252

HOUSTON AND KENWORTHY

Data (Kenworthy, 1999) in the absence (E) and presence of testosterone: 5 (f),
25 (‚), and 150 ␮M (Œ).

substrate concentrations could be used, providing the substrate concentration selected is below the Km. (see Fig. 1F).
2. For a sigmoidal curve, there may be either an underestimation or
overestimation of CLint if a hyperbolic curve is forced through the data
and the parameters Vmax and Km are used to calculate CLint. How
precisely the clearance estimate will be altered by the model misspecification will vary from case to case and will be dependent on the
number and quality of the data points. The Vmax value may be
overestimated but it is likely that the Km (S50) term will be most
affected. Thus it is probable that CLint calculated from a misspecified
Vmax/Km ratio will underestimate CLmax.
Another important consideration is the estimation of metabolic
stability of new chemical entities in terms of in vitro clearance, a
common practice within the pharmaceutical industry. This is usually
achieved through the use of substrate concentration depletion time
profiles, and clearance values are obtained either directly from the
area under the curve or from the microsomal half-life. This is usually
carried out at one substrate concentration, often in the 1-␮M region,
based on the rationale that this concentration should be well below the
(unknown) Km value. If consideration is not given to the phenomenon
of activation, underestimates of clearance will occur. Taking the
example of diazepam illustrated in Fig. 2 and discussed above, the
microsomal half-life at 1 ␮M is five times longer than at 100 ␮M
(close to the Smax), reflecting the nonactivated and fully activated
clearance.
3. For inhibition studies, models are fitted to data that account for
the effect of various concentrations of inhibitor, including the absence
of inhibitor. It is clear from the literature that in several inhibition
studies there are insufficient data points to allow any detailed examination of the effects of atypical kinetic profiles. If atypical kinetic
data are misspecified because in the presence of inhibitor, hyperbolic
curves are seen and false Ki values may be obtained. Once again the
degree of inaccuracy is hard to predict, however, if the objective is to
place compounds in rank order for comparative purposes, sensible
conclusions may not always be obtained.
These concerns are of particular relevance within the current trend

FIG. 3. Examples of fractional inhibition of metabolism in microsomes from ␤LM cells expressing human CYP3A4 and CYP reductase.
Data (Kenworthy, 1999) show three substrate-inhibitor interactions: curve 1,
where the inhibitor shows no cooperativity [inhibition of testosterone metabolism
(50 ␮M) by terfenadine], curve 2, where the inhibitor shows negative cooperativity
[inhibition of diazepam metabolism (10 ␮M) by terfenadine], and curve 3, where the
inhibitor shows positive cooperativity [inhibition of erythromycin metabolism (50
␮M) by testosterone]. Inhibitor concentrations are normalized for their Ki values (3,
10, and 24 ␮M for curves 1, 2, and 3, respectively).

for adopting high-throughput screening approaches. Many investigators work with only one substrate concentration and assess inhibitory
potential by the concentration responsible for a 50% inhibition value
(I50). Inhibitory screens may be subject to error when due consideration is not given to the substrate concentration used, particularly if
CYP3A has a major involvement in the metabolism of the drugs of
interest and multisite effects are apparent. The shape of the velocity
curve for a CYP3A4 substrate should be taken into account in the
design of inhibition screens. The consequences of ignoring atypical
concentration-effect profiles have been highlighted by Leff and Dougall (1993). When characterizing inhibition curves for CYP3A4, the
importance of the substrates should be placed on obtaining a sufficiently large number of data points at several substrate concentrations
to avoid misinterpretation of the data. Detailed consideration should
be given to the fractional inhibition-inhibitor concentration plot, as
this may display characteristics indicative of multisite effects for both
substrate and inhibitor. The logistic function (eq. 10) routinely used
may require a slope factor different from 1 (for the same reason as the
n value for a sigmoidal rate-concentration plot):
fI ⫽

In
I 50 ⫹ I n
n

(10)

where fI is the fractional inhibition for a given inhibitor concentration,
I. Figure 3 shows three examples of inhibitor-substrate interactions in
microsomes (obtained from the Gentest Corporation) from ␤-LM cells
expressing human CYP3A4 and CYP reductase (Kenworthy, 1999).
They illustrate the range of different inhibitory responses, which may
occur when inhibitors and/or substrates bind to multiple sites. For
example, the inhibition of testosterone by terfenadine shows no cooperativity (n ⫽ 1), the inhibition of diazepam by terfenadine shows
negative cooperativity (n ⫽ 0.58), and the inhibition of erythromycin
by testosterone shows positive cooperativity (n ⫽ 1.55).
Inhibition or activation at multiple sites may also be apparent,

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FIG. 2. Clearance plot for 3-hydroxylation of diazepam as a function of
substrate concentration in microsomes from ␤-LM cells expressing human
CYP3A4 and CYP reductase.

IN VIVO PREDICTIONS FROM NONHYPERBOLIC IN VITRO KINETICS
resulting in partial or cooperative inhibition or sigmoidal curves that
revert to hyperbolic curves in the presence of an activator competing
at two binding sites. Additionally, the effect of some CYP3A4 modifiers may differ according to the particular CYP3A4 substrate selected (Kenworthy et al., 1999), stressing the importance of investigating more than one CYP3A4 substrate in inhibition screens. At
present there is not a simple solution for accurately predicting
CYP3A4 interactions. If a meaningful understanding of the interactions is required, there appears to be little alternative to investigating
a wide concentration range of inhibitor and substrates and analyzing
the data using a model incorporating the binding of multiple substrate
molecules.
Inconsistencies between Substrates and Sources of Recombinant
CYP3A4

Conclusion
A strategy for in vitro-in vivo extrapolation is well established for
use with rat data. In this animal species hyperbolic profiles are very

common. Extension to the human situation where CYP3A dominates
brings more complexities, one of which is nonhyperbolic curves. The
question of whether it occurs in vivo is unanswered yet the problem
of equating in vitro with in vivo for CYP3A substrates remains a
topical issue that should be addressed now and not delayed until the
intricacies of CYP3A are resolved. Recent articles (Ekins et al., 1998;
Korzekwa et al., 1998) have indicated that there may be other CYPs,
in addition to 3A4, that show nonhyperbolic kinetic behavior. Furthermore, with the use of human liver microsomes, there will always
be a high likelihood that CYP3A4, due to its particularly broad
substrate specificity, will play some role in the metabolism of the vast
majority of drugs. Thus even a relatively selective substrate for
CYP2C9 or CYP2D6 may have its microsomal kinetics ’contaminated’ with CYP3A4 complexities, particularly when activation comes
into play.
The use of recombinant and/or purified enzymes, as opposed to
native hepatic mixes, has allowed the identification of unequivocal
kinetics under well controlled conditions. When negative cooperativity is manifested as a convex rate-substrate concentration profile, the
Vmax/Km approach to CLint determination is only valid if the correct
equation (eq. 6) is used to obtain the parameters. In the case of
positive cooperativity, this review suggests CLmax as a pragmatic
solution. Time will tell whether this particular simplification offers a
solution that is both robust and comprehensive. The high level of
activity surrounding the CYP3A subfamily of enzymes is providing
much molecular information that will necessitate continued refinement of our approaches to analyzing and making optimal use of in
vitro kinetic data.
Acknowledgments. We thank Drs. S. Clarke, D. Carlile, and L.
Witherow for valuable discussions.
Appendix: Derivation of Clmax
CLmax (the maximum point of the v/S plot) can be derived from the
Hill equation and used for comparison with CLint values. The Hill
equation can be used to describe sigmoidal data (eq. 2) and the
equation of the corresponding clearance plot is shown in eq. 5. The
first derivative of this equation, d v/S/d S gives the slope of the
clearance plot (eq. 11).
d v/S
dS
⫽

S 50n ⫻ V max ⫻ n ⫻ Sn⫺2 ⫺ S 50n ⫻ V max ⫻ S n⫺2 ⫺ V max ⫻ S2共n⫺1兲
共S 50n ⫹ Sn兲 2
(11)

When the slope, d v/S/d S is set to zero, the x and y coordinates for the
inflection point of the curve (CLmax) can be calculated. Solving for Sn
and S:
Sn ⫽ S 50n共n ⫺ 1兲

or

S ⫽ S 50 ⫻ n冑共n ⫺ 1兲

(12)

Substituting the value of S into the equation for the clearance plot (eq.
5), the y value (v/S) at the inflection point can be obtained (eq. 13).
v
V max ⫻ 共n ⫺ 1兲
⫽
S n共S 50n ⫻ 共n ⫺ 1兲兲 1/n
Equation 13 can be rearranged into the form shown in eq. 8.

(13)

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Interpretation of the nonhyperbolic type behavior discussed
above is complicated by the fact that such effects are not consistently seen with all CYP3A substrates. The variety of observed
effects may result from a number of scenarios, for example, some
substrates may only be able to interact with one binding site, due
to steric restrictions, for example, the macrolide antibiotics. In the
case of small molecular weight substrates, two or more molecules
may bind with only one site, resulting in metabolism, and the
second substrate molecule having no effect on the first. As highlighted earlier, some substrates may interact with two sites without
causing any significant change to ␣ and ␤, generating a hyperbolic
curve.
Another complicating factor in the study of atypical kinetics is
the apparent variability in kinetic behavior between different enzyme sources. It is hard to pinpoint if this is due to the variability
in the experimental conditions used, including the use of different
buffers as noted by Maenpaa et al. (1998) and the role of various
cofactors including CYP reductase and cytochrome b5 (Peyronneau
et al., 1992; Yamazaki et al., 1996b), or if it is due to discreet
differences in the enzyme active site between different recombinant sources. The activation and substrate inhibition phenomena
may be highly dependent on a particular folding pattern of the
protein or the location of the protein in different membrane
sources. The effects of substrates on the binding kinetics of carbon
monoxide (Koley et al., 1996) suggests that CYP3A4 may exist as
multiple conformers with different kinetic properties. Slight
changes in the flexible structure of CYP3A4 may alter the active
site and influence the complex interactions between multiple molecules. It is of interest to note that for certain drugs (amitriptyline,
carbamazepine, nifedipine, and testosterone) sigmoidicity is seen
in some expression systems, but not others (see Table 1).
In the past a lack of analytical sensitivity has restricted the substrate
concentration range used, but this is not a current limitation. Comprehensive data sets are particularly important for substrates showing
atypical kinetics to ensure a reasonable degree of confidence in the
model parameters. Recent kinetic observations with CYP3A substrates highlight the complexity of this enzyme and our comparatively
superficial approach. Absence of nonhyperbolic characteristics for a
particular substrate may arise as a result of a lack of cooperative
effects or, as discussed earlier, the canceling out of different interaction factors, thus the phenomenon becomes nonidentifiable rather than
being absent.

253

254

HOUSTON AND KENWORTHY
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