Lymphatic Delivery of Oral Anticancer Tegafur by Emulsion Formulations

The influence of emulsion type of tegafur, an oral anticancer agent, on lymphatic transport was studied in rats. The water-in-oil-type of emulsion and the oil-in-water-type emulsion of tegafur each in 50 mg, calculated in terms of tegafur, were prepared by adding tegafur aqueous solution to sesame oil containing hydrogenated castor oil following ultrasonic treatment, and then the prepared emulsions and aqueous solution as a comparative formulation were administered orally to rats (50 mg/5 ml/kg). The concentration levels of tegafur in plasma of femoral artery and lymph from thoracic duct cannula were measured simultaneously along a time course after administration and the pharmacokinetic parameters were investigated. At the same time, we examined the above described factors of 5-FU which is known as an active metabolite of tegafur. In comparison with tegafur solution, AUC and mean residence time of plasma tegafur were significantly increased in w/o-emulsion but significantly decreased in o/w-emulsion. Lymph flow rates were similar in both solution and w/o-emulsion but half in o/w-emulsion. Ratios between area under the lymph and plasma concentration time curves were always less than 1 reflecting the passive lymphatic delivery after oral administration of the prepared tegafur emulsions, but those to the 5-FU in the case of w/o-emulsion were more than 1. These results suggested that lymphatic delivery of tegafur by w/o-emulsion was more effective than that by o/w-emulsion due to its differences of formation ability of chylomicrons.