European journal of pharmacology
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Comparative Study
Oxytocin receptor binding and uterotonic activity of carbetocin and its metabolites following enzymatic degradation.
Metabolites of the analogue 1-deamino-1-carba-2-tyrosine(O-methyl)-oxytocin (carbetocin) following incubation with a rat kidney homogenate were isolated and their pharmacodynamic properties investigated. Apart from the parent compound two metabolites were identified namely desGlyNH2-carbetocin (carbetocin metabolite I) and desLeuGlyNH2-carbetocin (carbetocin metabolite II). Both carbetocin, carbetocin metabolite I and carbetocin metabolite II displayed binding affinities to the myometrial oxytocin receptor of a similar magnitude as oxytocin. ⋯ All three analogues bound to the myometrial vasopressin V1 receptor, albeit with much lower affinities than to the oxytocin receptor. Carbetocin metabolite II showed the weakest binding affinity of 33.7 +/- 7.34 nM compared to 7.24 +/- 0.29 nM for carbetocin and 9.89 + 2.80 nM for carbetocin metabolite I. Only carbetocin bound to the renal vasopressin V2 receptor though the binding affinity was very low (61.3 +/- 14.6 nM).