Zhaoxu_2008_Pharmazie_63_156

Rifabutin exhibits remarkable autoinduction of its elimination, but the mechanism behind it was not fully known. Our work showed that rifabutin administration increased the metabolism of rifabutin itself in both in vivo studies and liver perfusion, and the half-life was decreased by 71.08% and 12.74%, respectively. Further results showed that rifabutin administration increased CYP3A, CYP2D and cholinesterase levels by 87.2%, 57.3% and 65.14%, respectively. The autoinduction phenomenon of rifabutin may, therefore, be attributed to induction of cholinesterase and CYP450 isoenzymes, such as