¹Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Saint-Antoine University Hospital, the Division of Nephrology B and the Division of Nephrology A, Tenon University Hospital, and the Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Robert Debré University Hospital, Paris, France, and the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart, Germany

Correspondence: Christian Funck-Brentano, MD, PhD, Unité de Pharmacologie Clinique, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, 184 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75012, Paris, France.

^*Supported by a "Contrat de Recherche Externe INSERM" (CRE 910303) and by a "Contrat de Recherche Clinique, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris" (No. 912606).

Abstract

Objectives: To examine whether the variability of CYP2D6 activity in patients with chronic renal failure can be assessed, particularly among subjects with the extensive metabolizer phenotype, by use of standard in vivo indexes of CYP2D6 activity derived from oral administration of dextromethorphan and sparteine.

Methods: A single 100 mg oral dose of sparteine and a single 40 mg oral dose of dextromethorphan were administered on two occasions to 12 patients with chronic renal failure (creatinine clearance ranging from 20 to 70 ml/min) and 12 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. Sparteine clearances, sparteine metabolic ratio, and urinary recovery of dextrorphan were calculated. Patients and healthy control subjects were not selected on the basis of their CYP2D6 phenotypes.

Results: Chronic renal failure was associated with a decrease in sparteine partial metabolic clearance to dehydrosparteine (median of 322 ml/min and range of 62 to 670 ml/min in patients with renal failure versus median of 635 ml/min and range of 77 to 1276 ml/min in normal subjects; p < 0.02). Sparteine apparent oral clearance (p < 0.03) and renal clearance (p < 0.001) decreased in patients with renal failure. However, sparteine metabolic ratio was not significantly altered in patients with renal failure and showed that all patients were extensive metabolizers of sparteine. Although fractional urinary excretion of dextrorphan decreased in patients with renal failure (median, 24.4%; range, 9.7% to 55.9%) compared with control (median, 47.5%; range, 24.1% to 72.1%) (p = 0.02), it also showed that all subjects were extensive metabolizers of dextromethorphan. The amount of dextrorphan excreted in urine correlated with creatinine clearance independently from CYP2D6 activity measured as sparteine partial metabolic clearance. However, it did not correlate with sparteine metabolic ratio or with fractional urinary excretion of dehydrosparteine.

Conclusion: Assessment of CYP2D6 activity by use of dextromethorphan and sparteine is possible in extensive metabolizer patients with chronic renal failure. However, in these subjects, dextromethorphan and sparteine do not reflect CYP2D6 activity in the same way.