Female Han Wistar rats (350-375 g; n = 20) were ovariectomized and cannulated at Harlan (Indianapolis, IN). Briefly, rats were anesthetized, ovariectomized and allowed to recover for three to five days. The rats were then re-anesthetized, catheters placed in both jugular and femoral veins and externalized at the nape of the neck, and allowed to recover

for seven to fourteen days prior to study initiation. The jugular vein catheter was used for intravenous estradiol administration, whereas the femoral vein catheter was used for remote blood sampling for prolactin analysis. The day prior to experiment Obeticholic Acid chemical structure initiation, rats were jacketed, tethered and housed individually in home cages at 23 ± 1 °C. Ticagrelor (180 mg/kg/day; n = 20) or vehicle (1% w/v sodium carboxymethylcellulose in 0.1% w/v polysorbate 80; n = 10), were administered selleck monoclonal humanized antibody orally (n = 10 rats/group). Five hours after Ticagrelor treatment on Day 1, 0.5 mL blood was collected into lithium heparin tubes for TK bioanalysis of exposure determined by protein precipitation

and liquid chromatography followed by mass spectrometric detection (LC-MS/MS). On Day 4, rats were treated with Ticagrelor or vehicle 1 hour before estradiol (E2; 2 μg/rat). Blood (0.3 mL) was collected from the femoral vein at the following time points: pre-Ticagrelor dose and 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 and 5 h post-Ticagrelor dose. The 1 hour blood collection was just prior to E2 treatment. Blood was transferred into microcentrifuge tubes containing the anti-coagulant lithium heparin, and plasma isolated by centrifugation and then frozen at -80 °C until analyzed. Rats were not handled for blood collection; all samples were collected

remotely via the implanted catheters (e.g. from outside of the home cage). Plasma prolactin levels were evaluated by ELISA, according to the Manufacturer’s instructions (Kamaya Biomedical Company, Seattle WA; catalog KT-203), except a lower standard was inserted into the assay bringing the Bcl-w lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) down to 1.3 ng/mL. This 1.3 ng/mL LLOQ was deemed acceptable because it was above the mean plus two times the standard deviation of 20 assay diluent samples. The intra- and inter-assay variability were less than 10%. Several measurements of prolactin were at or below the LLOQ, which was reported as the LLOQ value. Area under the curve (AUC) value for prolactin was calculated for each rat using the Trapezoidal Rule, with data starting from 1 hour after Ticagrelor dose, which was just before estradiol dosing, to 5 hours post-Ticagrelor dose, collected at 30 minute intervals. For the purpose of AUC calculation, the 1 hour time point was treated as time point zero. The LLOQ was treated as the baseline (or zero prolactin) value and was subtracted from all prolactin values prior to AUC calculation, to express AUC values relative to the baseline.