Forecasting gastrointestinal precipitation and oral pharmacokinetics of dantrolene in dogs using an in vitro precipitation testing coupled with in silico modeling and simulation.

The aim of the current research was to determine the precipitation kinetics of dantrolene sodium using canine biorelevant in vitro testing and to model the precipitation kinetics by appropriately coupling the data with an in silico tool adapted for dogs. The precipitation profiles of dantrolene sodium solutions were obtained with the in vitro paddle apparatus at a revolution rate of 50rpm. The in silico prediction tool was designed using STELLA software and the predicted plasma concentration profiles of dantrolene using the in vitro precipitation data were compared with the observed in vivo pharmacokinetics in beagle dogs. The plasma profiles of dantrolene, which served as a model weakly acidic drug which precipitates in the upper gastrointestinal tract, was successfully predicted using the in vitro precipitation testing coupled with the in silico modeling and simulation approach. The approach was subsequently used to forecast the effect of pharmaceutical excipients (HPMC/PG) on the ability of the drug to supersaturate in the gut and the resulting pharmacokinetics. The agreement of the simulated pharmacokinetics with the observed values confirms the ability of canine biorelevant media to predict oral performance of enhanced dosage forms in dogs.