It is generally accepted that P-glycoprotein binds its substrates in the lipid phase of themembrane. Quantification and characterization of the lipid-transporter binding step are, however, still amatter of debate. We therefore selected 15 structurally diverse drugs and measured the binding constantsfrom water to the activating (inhibitory) binding region of P-glycoprotein,
Ktw(1) (
Ktw(2)), as well as thelipid-water partition coefficients,
Klw. The former were obtained by measuring the concentrations ofhalf-maximum activation (inhibition),
K1 (
K2), in l
iving NIH-MDR-G185 mouse embryo fibroblasts usinga Cytosensor microphysiometer, and the latter were derived from surface act
ivity measurements. Thisallowed determination of the membrane concentration of drugs at half-maximum P-glycoprotein activation(
Cb(1) = (0.02 to 67) mmol/L lipid), which is much higher than the corresponding aqueous concentration(
K1 = (0.02 to 376)
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M). Moreover we determined the free energy of drug binding from water to theactivating binding region of the transporter (
G
tw(1) = (-30 to -54) kJ/mol), the free energy of drugpartitioning into the lipid membrane (
G
lw = (-23 to -34) kJ/mol), and, as the difference of the two,the free energy of drug binding from the lipid membrane to the activating binding region of the transporter(
G
tl(1) = (-7 to -27) kJ/mol). For the compounds tested
G
tl(1) was less negative than
G
lw butvaried more strongly. The free energies of substrate binding to the transporter within the lipid phase,
G
tl(1), are consistent with a modular binding concept, where the energetically most efficient bindingmodule comprises two hydrogen bond acceptor groups.