Metabolism of the analgesic drug, tramadol hydrochloride, in rat and dog

Abstract

1. Metabolism of the analgesic agent, tramadol hydrochloride, was investigated after a single oral administration of ¹⁴C-tramadol to four rats (50mg kg^-1) and two dogs (20 mg kg^-1). 2. Recovery of total radioactivity in rat and dog urine samples over 24h was 73 and 65% of the radioactive dose, respectively. 3. Unchanged tramadol and a total of 24 metabolites, consisting of 16 Phase I metabolites and eight conjugates (seven glucuronides, one sulphate), were isolated and tentatively identified, which accounted for > 52% of the dose in urine of both species. 4. Of the metabolites, five (M1-5) were previously identified. 5. The metabolites were formed via the following six metabolic pathways: O-demethylation, N-demethylation, cyclohexyl oxidation, oxidative N-dealkylation, dehydration and conjugation. 6. Pathways 1-3 appear to be major steps, forming seven O-desmethyl/N-desmethyl and hydroxy-cyclohexyl metabolites in major quantities. 7. Pathways 1-3 in conjunction with pathway 6 produced four glucuronides along with four minor conjugates. 8. In addition, the in vitro metabolism of tramadol was conducted using rat hepatic S9 fraction in the presence of an NADPH-generating system. Unchanged tramadol (30% of the sample) plus nine metabolites, M1-7, tramadol-N-oxide (M31) and OH-cyclohexyl-M1 (M32), were profiled and tentatively identified based on MS and MS/MS data.