Key result
Oral azelastine shows antiallergic activity in guinea pigs strongly correlated with preferential lung accumulation.
Azelastine and its active metabolite demonstrate selective uptake into the lungs, which correlates with its antiasthmatic and antiallergic activity in a guinea pig model.
Hypothesis-generating for azelastine lung targeting in allergy; leaves open human translation and clinical testing.
The correlation between the antiasthma activity of azelastine and the concentrations of azelastine and its major metabolite, desmethylazelastine, in the blood and lung were investigated in guinea pigs. Blood and lung tissue samples collected at 15 min after aeroallergen (ovalbumin, 0.5 mg/ml, 30 s, 15 psi) challenge, i.e., 2-1/4 h after oral administration of the drug, were analyzed for azelastine and its desmethyl metabolite by specific HPLC assay. Azelastine afforded protection against immediate allergic responses (IAR, characterized by gasping and bronchospasmic convulsions). Based on the reduction of the severity of IAR, the ID50 was 0.04 mg/kg. It also delayed the onset of IAR and prevented mortalities. A positive correlation (r2 = 0.944) between the antiallergic activity and the sum concentrations of azelastine and desmethylazelastine in the lung was observed. Preferential uptake of azelastine and desmethylazelastine by the lung was demonstrated by the mean lung/blood ratio of about 22 and 146, respectively. The selective uptake of azelastine and its active metabolite by the lungs could contribute to its antiasthmatic/antiallergic activity in guinea pigs.
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Chand et al. (1993) studied Asthma/allergic response. Azelastine was evaluated on Antiallergic activity and lung/blood concentration ratio (r2 = 0.944). Azelastine demonstrated antiallergic activity in guinea pigs (ID50 0.04 mg/kg) with a strong positive correlation (r2 = 0.944) to its concentration in the lung, where it preferentially accumulated.
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