Potential inhibition of cytochrome P450 3A4 by propofol in human primary hepatocytes

Figure 1 Effect of propofol on CYP3A4 activity in primary cultured hepatocytes. Hepatocytes prepared from donors were treated for 24 h with 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mM propofol. At the end of this time, the medium was changed and eryth-romycin at 0.4 mM was added to the cells. After incubated for 30 min, aliquots of the medium were removed, and N-demethylation of erythromycin activity was determined as described above. Each value represented the mean of triplicate treatments with SD indicated by the vertical bars. ^b:P < 0.01.

Figure 2 Effect of propofol on CYP3A protein expression. Hepatocytes prepared from donors were treated for 24 h with 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mM propofol. CYP3A was ana-lyzed in sonicates of whole cells as described in the paragraph of Materials and Methods. 20 micrograms of sonicated protein were applied per well.