Presence, enzymatic activity, and subcellular localization of paraoxonases 1, 2, and 3 in human lung tissues.

AIMS: The human paraoxonases family (PONs) includes three calcium-dependent esterases: PON1, PON2, and PON3. The presence of PONs mRNA in human lungs is known, however, their enzymatic activity and subcellular localization have not been sufficiently explored. MAIN METHODS: In this work, the presence of PONs in human lung tissues, at both mRNA and protein levels, was confirmed by Real-Time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Moreover, the activities of PONs were determined in cytosol and microsomes of 30 subjects and in mitochondria of 8 representative lung tissues using selective and non-selective substrates. Besides, to exclude the possible contribution of other esterases on PON1 organophosphate activity, the effect of bis-p-nitrophenyl phosphate (BNPP) and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), esterase inhibitors, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a general paraoxonase inhibitor, was tested. Finally, the presence and activities of PONs in the A549 pulmonary cell line were also evaluated in order to be used as a model for studies on paraoxonases' metabolism. KEY FINDINGS: Our results demonstrated high interindividual variability in both PONs mRNA/protein levels and enzymatic activities and pointed out the presence of all PONs in human lungs and their subcellular distribution in the cytosol, microsomes, and mitochondria. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings add further information to our knowledge of pulmonary metabolism and, given that PON1 can metabolize some drugs used for respiratory diseases, the presence of PON1 activity in the lung tissue should no longer be ignored in the development of treatment plans and the design of new drugs.

Expression and characterization of two new alkane-inducible cytochrome P450s from Trichoderma harzianum.

n-Dodecane and fatty acids were good inducers of cytochrome P450 (CYP) and the ω-hydroxylase of lauric acid, which is a marker for ω-hydroxylation of n-alkanes, in Trichoderma harzianum. A cDNA, containing an ORF of 1520 bp, encoding a CYP52 of 520 amino acids, was isolated by RACE. Another n-alkane-inducible CYP was identified by LLC-MS/MS analysis of a microsomal protein band induced by n-dodecane in a library of T. harzianum. This suggests that T. harzianum has a CYP-dependent conversion of alkanes to fatty acids allowing their incorporation into lipids.

Molecular cloning and enzymatic characterization of sheep CYP2J.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2Js have been studied in various mammals, but not in sheep, as an animal model used to test veterinary drug metabolism. Sheep CYP2J was cloned from liver messenger RNA (mRNA) by RACE. The cDNA, after modification at its N- and C-terminals, was expressed in Escherichia coli and the sheep CYP2J protein, purified by chromatography, was 80% homologous to human and monkey CYP2J2. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) experiments showed that CYP2J mRNA was expressed in liver, cortex, respiratory and olfactory mucosa, heart, bronchi, lung, spleen, small intestine and kidney. The purified enzyme was catalytically active towards aminopyrine, all-trans-retinoic acid, and particularly arachidonic acid forming 20-HETE, 19-HETE, and 18-HETE (about 86% of the total) and 14,15-, 11,12-, 8,9-, and 5,6-EETs (cis-epoxyeicosatrienoic acids; about 14% of total), with a regioselectivity similar to that shown by the mammalian CYP2J2s.

Purification, molecular cloning, heterologous expression and characterization of pig CYP1A2.

Porcine cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2 was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from the hepatic microsomes of beta-naphthoflavone-treated male pigs. In a reconstituted system, this enzyme showed a good catalytic activity towards caffeine, acetanilide, and methoxyresorufin, all known markers of mammalian CYP1A2. Using 3'- and 5'-rapid amplification of coding DNA (cDNA) ends (RACE), we amplified from the liver RNA of control pigs a full-length 1827 bp cDNA containing an open reading frame of 1548 bp which encoded a putative CYP1A2 protein of 516 amino acids and an estimated Mr of 58 380 Da. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) experiments showed that the messenger RNA (mRNA) of CYP1A2 was expressed in liver, heart and nasal mucosa but not in lung, small intestine, kidney and brain. Using the pCW vector containing a N-terminal modified cDNA, pig CYP1A2 was expressed in Escherichia coli. 3-[(3-Chloroamidopropyl)dimethylmmonio]-1-propane-sulfonate (CHAPS)-solubilized E. coli preparations expressing CYP1A2 produced a functionally isoform which, in a reconstituted system, was catalytically active toward ethoxyresorufin and methoxyresorufin showing K(m)'s similar to those obtained with CYP1A2 purified from pig liver or human recombinant CYP1A2. Taken together, these results demonstrate that domestic pigs have a functionally active CYP1A2 gene well expressed in the liver with biochemical properties quite similar to those corresponding to the human enzyme.

Modulation of lipid homeostasis in response to continuous or intermittent high-fat diet in pigs.

A high-fat diet is known to induce atherosclerosis in animal models. Dietary factors and timing of atherogenic food delivery may affect plasma lipoprotein content composition and its potential atherogenic effect. Increasingly often, humans spend periods/days eating in a completely unregulated way, ingesting excessive amounts of food rich in oils and fats, alternating with periods/days when food intake is more or less correct. We investigate the effect on lipid homeostasis of a high-fat diet administered either continuously or intermittently. We investigated control pigs receiving standard diet (C, n=7), pigs receiving a high-fat diet every day for 10 weeks (CHF, n=5), and pigs receiving a high-fat diet every other week for 10 weeks (IHF, n=7). IHF animals were shown to have a different lipid profile compared with CHF animals, with a significant increase in high-density lipoproteins (HDL) levels with respect to C and CHF groups. CHF also showed significantly higher values of TC/HDL cholesterol compared with C and IHF. Hepatic expression analysis of genes involved in lipid homeostasis showed an increasing trend of nuclear receptor LXRα along with its target genes in the CHF group and in the IHF group, whereas SREBP2 and LDLr were significantly inhibited. A significant correlation was found between ABCA1 expression and circulating levels of HDL-C. Periodic withdrawals of a high-fat atherogenic diet compared with a regular administration results in a different adaptive response of lipoprotein metabolism, which leads to a significantly higher plasma level of HDL-C and lower TC/HDL-C.

The involvement of a non-'bay-region' diol-epoxide in the metabolic activation of benza[a]anthracene in hamster embryo cells.

The major hydrocarbon-nucleoside adduct present in hydrolysates of DNA from hamster embryo cells that had been treated with 3H-labelled benz[a]anthracene in culture has been examined by chromatography on Sephadex LH-20 columns and by high-pressure liquid chromatography. The results show that this adduct most probably arises from r-8,t-9-hydroxy-t-10,11-oxy-8,9,10,11-tetrahydrobenz[a]anthracene (anti-BA-8,9.-diol 10,11-oxide). On the basis of this and other evidence, this non-bay-region diol-epoxide appears to be a reactive intermediate involved in the metabolic activation of benz[a]anthracene.

Xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in human respiratory nasal mucosa.

Study of oxidative and non-oxidative xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes was undertaken in microsomal and cytosolic fractions of two human livers, 10 individual and several pooled samples of human respiratory nasal mucosa obtained by surgical operation of male and female patients affected by hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates. The purity of nasal microsomes was checked by electron microscopy and marker enzyme assay. The pooled samples of respiratory nasal epithelium contained, relative to liver, a low amount of cytochrome P450 (about 25 pmol/mg protein) and associated biotransformation activities, and a low level of other components of the mixed-function oxidase system such as cytochrome b5, NADH and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase however the NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase activity was comparable to that of liver. The P450-dependent monooxygenase activities such as ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase and the dimethylnitrosamine N-demethylase were found in nearly all nasal microsomal specimens. The aniline hydroxylase and the aminopyrine or hexamethylphosphoramide N-demethylases were detected only in the pooled nasal samples. With regard to the non-oxidative enzymes, the activities of glutathione S-transferase, DT-diaphorase, epoxide hydrolase, UDP-glucuronyl-transferase, carbonyl reductase, benzaldehyde and propionaldehyde dehydrogenases, were investigated both in the individual and pooled nasal tissues and livers. These activities were similar in nasal and liver tissue, except for UDP-glucuronyltransferase which was not detected in nasal mucosa. The present findings demonstrate that the respiratory section of human nose contains a wide array of oxidative and non-oxidative enzymes, which could play a crucial role in the bioactivation or detoxication in situ of inhaled xenobiotics.

Effect of rociverine on P450-dependent monooxygenases and its N-deethylation metabolism in rat liver microsomes.

Rociverine [2-(diethylamino)-1-methylethyl cis-1-hydroxy [bicyclohexyl]-2-carboxylate] citrate (ROC) is an antispasmodic agent therapeutically active in humans at doses of 0.5-1 mg/kg. This study investigated the effect of acute administration of the drug on hepatic microsomal cytochrome P450 (P450)-catalysed drug metabolism. Only high doses (> or = 100 mg/kg) of ROC were able to induce in rats the hepatic microsomal pentoxyresorufin O-depenthylase (PROD) and 16 beta-testosterone hydroxylase activities both associated with P4502B1/2 and the erythromycin N-dimethylase (ErD) and 2 beta-testosterone hydroxylase activities both dependent on P4503A1/2. However, at 100 and 200 mg/kg of ROC, the 16 beta-testosterone hydroxylase and PROD were the most induced activities, suggesting that P4502B1/2 are the isoforms most sensitive to ROC induction. Accordingly, ROC treatment enhanced, in a dose-dependent manner, the amount of P4502B1/2 and 3A1/2 in microsomes as assayed by western blotting. The northern blot analysis of ROC-treated rat liver showed that the P4502B1/2 induction appears to be regulated at the mRNA level as in the induction by phenobarbital (PB). The oxidative metabolism of ROC with hepatic microsomes from control or PB- and ROC-induced rats resulted in a N-deethyl ROC derivative (major metabolite) and an unknown minor ROC derivative. The kinetic parameters for the N-deethylation of ROC were studied with purified P4502B1 and with microsomes from control or rats treated with various inducers (phenobarbital, ethanol, beta-naphthoflavone, dexamethasone and rociverine). It was found that phenobarbital-, dexamethasone- and rociverine-induced microsomes deethylated ROC with a Vmax about five times higher than that (0.9 nmol/min/mg protein) of control microsomes, although with a similar affinity (Km approximately 0.3 mM). In a reconstituted system, the purified P4502B1 metabolized ROC with a high deethylation rate (22 nmol/min/nmol P450). Moreover, the ROC deethylation was inhibited by compounds such as hexobarbital, metyrapone and triacetyloleandomicin, selective inhibitors for P4502B and/or P4503A enzymes. On the other hand ROC, when added in vitro, inhibited the 16 beta- and 2 beta-testosterone hydroxylases and the PROD and ErD activities. Taken together, these results indicate that the ROC-inducible P4502B and P4503A are involved in ROC deethylation. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that ROC is a weak phenobarbital-like inducer of P450, probably able at high and reiterated doses to alter its own metabolism, at least in the rat liver.

Effect of starvation and chlormethiazole on cytochrome P450s of rat nasal mucosa.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes of nasal tissue are relatively resistant to induction by classical inducers. In the present study, the effects of starvation on the expression of CYP1A, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2E, 2G, and 3A subfamilies in the nasal mucosa of rat were studied. Fasting for 72 hr caused an increase in 2E1-dependent p-nitrophenol hydroxylase and 1A-dependent ethoxy- (or methoxy) resorufin dealkylase activities, but did not affect either 2A-linked coumarin hydroxylase or the testosterone hydroxylase activity, the latter reaction being a marker of several CYPs including 2G1. Whereas increases in 2E1- and 1A- associated catalytic activities were accompanied by a concomitant increase in the corresponding apoproteins as determined by immunoblotting, immunoactive protein bands reactive with antibodies raised against rat 1A1, 2B1, 2C11, 3A1 or rabbit nasal 2A10/11 and 2G1 were not altered. Fasting also increased CYP2E1 and CYP1A2 on the mRNA level, but did not alter CYP1A1 mRNA as determined by hybridization with cDNA probes selective for these cytochromes. A reiterative administration of chlormethiazole, a specific inhibitor of 2E1 in liver, strongly inhibited many CYPs, including 2E1, 1A2, 2G1, and 2A in the nasal mucosa, but did not influence expression of 2B or 3A as determined by immunoblotting or catalytic activities. The chlormethiazole-mediated inhibition of 1A1 and 2E1 was demonstrated to be at the mRNA level. These results suggest that fasting induces the gene expression of 2E1 and 1A2 and that the mechanisms involved in the regulation of CYPs in the nasal mucosa are tissue-specific. The inducibility of the above-mentioned isoforms may have a significant role in the clearance of drugs and bioactivation of inhaled compounds.

Metabolism and mutagenicity of isoprene.

Liver microsomes of various rodents (mouse, rat, rabbit, and hamster) metabolize isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene) to the corresponding monoepoxides 3,4-epoxy-3-methyl-1-butene and 3,4-epoxy-2-methyl-1-butene. 3,4-Epoxy-3-methyl-1-butene (half-life 85 min) was found to be the main metabolite, although the stable 3,4-epoxy-2-methyl-1-butene was also formed (about 14-25% with respect to the main epoxide). The kinetic constants (Km and Vmax) for the formation of the major epoxide metabolite of isoprene were determined by gas-liquid chromatography. The minor epoxide was further epoxidized to the isoprene dioxide by the microsomes of all rodents studied. The Km and Vmax were determined and phenobarbital was found to be a good inducer for this epoxidation in all species. The mutagenic activity, using Salmonella typhimurium, and the chemical reactivity (alkylating power and half-life) of the epoxide metabolites of isoprene were investigated and compared to those of other structurally related epoxides. Isoprene and the monoepoxide intermediates of the isoprene biotransformation were not mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium. However, the isoprene dioxide (2-methyl-1,2,3,4-diepoxybutane) was found to be mutagenic and have alkylating power towards nicotinamide, similar to the structurally corresponding 1,2,3,4-diepoxybutane. In conclusion, the metabolism of isoprene does not lead to the formation of mutagenic monoepoxide (in contrast to butadiene) but the formation of mutagenic and presumably carcinogenic isoprene diepoxide is possible, thereby a genotoxic effect of isoprene in rodents or other species cannot be ruled out.

Chronic liver injury by thioacetamide and promotion of hepatic carcinogenesis.

To verify whether a mild, but prolonged liver injury by chemicals needing bioactivation causes both hepatic cirrhosis and the appearance of hepatocyte nodules and tumors (providing the liver has been exposed previously to initiating stimuli), diethylnitrosamine-initiated and uninitiated rats were administered thioacetamide at low dose (250 mg/l drinking water) for 6 months. Hepatocyte nodule incidence as well as changes in the drug-metabolizing system were followed at monthly intervals. In the uninitiated rats a micronodular liver cirrhosis slowly developed upon thioacetamide chronic administration; a few hepatocyte focal lesions of small size were seen from the 3rd month onward. By contrast in the diethylnitrosamine-initiated thioacetamide-treated rats the liver was macronodular because of the appearance and growth of many hepatocyte nodules; some hepatomas were also seen. During thioacetamide administration both uninitiated and diethylnitrosamine-initiated rats underwent a progressive decrease of the cytochrome P-450 liver content as well as of the activity of aminopyrine N-demethylase, ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase and ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase. On the other hand, most components of the phase II of the drug-metabolizing system were markedly enhanced. In conclusion, chronic administration of thioacetamide at low doses provided strong promoting stimuli for previously initiated hepatocytes.

Cloning and expression of rat CYP2E1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: detection of genotoxicity of N-alkylformamides.

A cDNA coding for rat cytochrome P450 2E1 was cloned into the multicopy vector pYeDP60 and expressed in haploid RSY6 and diploid RS112 yeast strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under control of the GAL10-CYC1 promoter. Spectral and catalytic properties of the expressed 2E1 were examined in whole cells or microsomes of both strains. The level of CYP2E1 obtained in RS112 (200 pmol/mg microsomal protein) was the highest among CYP2E1 produced in the various expression systems. The monooxygenase activity in the microsomes of both strains, measured as aniline hydroxylase, was found comparable to that of control rat hepatic microsomes. In a reconstituted system in the presence of exogenous rat P450 reductase, their activity increased about 10-fold. When exposed to the carcinogen NDMA, a known 2E1 substrate, the recombination frequency determined in the 2E1-expressing RS112 cells was enhanced, in a dose-dependent manner, up to 20-fold. The exposure of the same cells to the hepatotoxic solvents, N-methyl- and N-ethylformamide, resulted in an induction of recombination frequency, which was not observed in the void plasmid containing RS112 cells in the presence of S9 hepatic fractions from pyrazole-induced rats, as a specific exogenous metabolic activation system. These results demonstrate that the 2E1-expressing cells metabolize the two N-alkylformamides to genotoxic intermediates and, therefore, they provide an useful tool to study the bioactivation mechanism of potential P450 2E1 substrates.

Effect of acetone administration on renal, pulmonary and hepatic monooxygenase activities in hamster.

Administration of acetone in drinking water to Syrian Golden hamsters for 9-10 days altered microsomal P-450 dependent monooxygenase activities in the liver and the kidney but not in the lung. While hepatic microsomal NADPH-cytochrome c reductase was unaffected, cytochrome b5 and P-450 content increased (about 100%) in liver but not in kidney. Furthermore acetone treatment resulted in an increase of microsomal reverse type I binding with DMSO and in an increase in the P-450IIE1-linked renal and hepatic activities such as aniline hydroxylase (AnH) and p-nitrophenol hydroxylase (pNPH). The SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the induction in acetone-treated microsomes of a hepatic protein with the M.W. of ethanol inducible P-450IIE1 of hamster. The acetone treatment however, unlike ethanol, induced other activities such as benzphetamine N-demethylase and ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase in liver and aminopyrine N-demethylase in kidney. No change of ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase and pentoxyresorufin O-depentylase was observed in either renal or hepatic microsomes. Addition of acetone in vitro had an inhibitory effect on pNPH by hepatic microsomes from control or acetone induced hamsters, while AnH was not affected. Interruption of acetone administration for 24 h resulted in a return of AnH and pNPH activities to essentially basal levels in the liver suggesting a rapid turnover of the hamster P-450IIE1 (ham P-450j). Our results indicate that, as found in rat, acetone is a good inducer of the P-450IIE1 (ham P-450j) in hamster in both the liver and kidney. However other P-450 forms, such as, probably, the renal and hepatic P-450IIB1, are also induced. Thus acetone-treated hamsters, which, in certain respects, show a qualitatively different induction pattern from that reported for ethanol, can be used as an useful animal model to study the toxicity of certain xenobiotics.

Role of cytochrome P-450 isoenzymes in the bioactivation of hydroxy anthraquinones.

The reductive and the P-450-dependent oxidative bioactivation of various anthraquinones (AQs), 1-hydroxy AQ, 1,2-dihydroxy AQ, 1,4-dihydroxy AQ, 1,8-dihydroxy AQ, 1,2,4-trihydroxy AQ, 1,4-dihydroxy 6-carboxy AQ and 1,8-dihydroxy 3-carboxy AQ, were investigated using purified enzymes, subcellular fractions and four Chinese hamster V79 cell lines lacking and expressing cytochrome P-450 oxidative enzymes. The reduction of AQs performed by NADH-dehydrogenase, NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, homogenates and microsomes of V79 cells, indicated that only the carboxy-containing drugs were fairly good superoxide anion stimulators. The P-450 dependent oxidation of AQs, assayed as NADPH consumption with microsomes and reconstituted enzymic systems, demonstrated that the P-450 1A1 and 1A2 were, as expected, the most active catalysts. However, they appeared to catalyze the formation of polyphenols rather than arene oxides or phenoxy radicals. Further support to the lack of generation of reactive intermediates during the oxidative metabolism of AQs came from the genotoxicity studies. In the three V79 cell lines expressing rat cytochrome P-450 1A1, 1A2 and 2B1, AQs did not significantly enhance the sister chromatid exchange induction above that elicited in the parental V79 line. Thus the present results, collectively taken, suggest that the P-450-mediated oxidation pathway plays a minor role in the bioactivation of AQs.

Superoxide anion production and toxicity in V79 cells of six hydroxy-anthraquinones.

This study investigates the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of various carboxy AQ, 1,4-dihydroxy 6-carboxy AQ, 1,8-dihydroxy 3-carboxy AQ, 1,4-dihydroxy AQ, 1,5-dihydroxy AQ, 1,8-dihydroxy AQ and 2,6-dihydroxy AQ in V79 Chinese hamster cells. The V79 cells were used since, as they contain flavoproteins but not cytochrome P-450, they can bioactive xenobiotics only through the reductive pathway excluding the oxidative one. In addition, the abilities of AQs to stimulate O2-production using both purified flavoproteins (NADH-dehydrogenase, NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase) and V79 subcellular fractions (homogenate and microsomes) were assayed. The NADH and NADPH consumption stimulated by AQs in V79 microsomes was also determined. The results showed that the carboxylic-containing drugs and the 1,4-dihydroxy AQ were weak sister chromatid exchange inducers and the most toxic among the six anthraquinones examined. Dicumarol, a potent inhibitor of DT-diaphorase, reduced, rather than potentiated, both the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity caused by these AQs. Thus, the higher superoxide formation rates stimulated by the carboxylic-containing AQs compared to those of the other quinones with all the in vitro systems used, suggested, except for the 1,4-dihydroxy AQ, a possible relationship between cytotoxicity and O2-production. For the 1,4-dihydroxy AQ toxicity, a specific bioactivation route was hypothesized.

Superoxide anion production by adriamycinol from cardiac sarcosomes and by mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase.

This study investigates the effects of both adriamycin and its 13-hydroxylated metabolite adriamycinol on superoxide anion production from cardiac sarcosomes and by mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase. Superoxide anion production was determined by using the succinoylated cytochrome c reduction assay. Both adriamycin and adriamycinol stimulated superoxide formation in cardiac sarcosomes and by mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase. In the first case only NADPH was required as a co-factor and in the second case only NADH. From sarcosomes as well as by NADH dehydrogenase, the superoxide production followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. With both activating enzymatic systems, the Vmax of adriamycinol was found to be similar to that of adriamycin, but the Km for the former anthracycline was higher than for the latter. Adriamycinol also increased the rate of NADPH and NADH consumption, by sarcosomal fractions and by NADH dehydrogenase respectively. At equimolar consentrations, adriamycinol consumed less NADPH and NADH than adriamycin. These results suggest that adriamycinol could contribute to the chronic cardiac toxicity of adriamycin by forming superoxide anions in cardiac cells constituents.

Heterogenous effects of anthraquinones on drug-metabolizing enzymes in the liver and small intestine of rat.

The induction of a variety of drug-metabolizing enzymes by six anthraquinones (AQs) has been investigated in the liver and small intestine of rat. In the liver, the intragastric administration for 3 days of 100 mg/kg 9,10-anthraquinone (9,10-AQ). 1-hydroxy-AQ, 1,4-dihydroxy-AQ, but not 1,2-dihydroxy-AQ and 2-carboxy-AQ, resulted in a significant induction of the UDP-GT, DT-diaphorase, P450 1A-linked monooxygenase activities and in particular the methoxyresorufin-O-demethylase (MEROD), an activity dependent on P450 1A2. Immunoblot analysis indicated that 1-hydroxy-AQ and 1,4-dihydroxy-AQ induced P450 1A2 but not 1A1 and 9,10-AQ induced both P4501A2 and P4502B. Northern blotanalysis, using a cDNA probe for CYP 1A1 and CYP 1A2, confirmed that the AQs induce CYP 1A2 but not 1A1 mRNA. In the mucosa of small intestine, none of the above-mentioned enzymatic activities were enhanced following AQ administration. The induction mechanism of the hepatic enzymes by AQs is not known and it deserves a further study as it might be independent from the activation of the Ah-receptor as reported for other tricyclic compounds. The results from inhibition experiments showed that the hydroxylated AQs were strong inhibitors of P450 1A2-dependent monooxygenases. This suggests that long-term ingestion of certain AQs, may affect the toxicity of other components present in the diet through the hepatic induction or inhibition of P450 1A2.

Structure activity relationship of epoxides: different mutagenicity of the two diastereoisomeric 3-bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexanes.

The mutagenic activities in V79 Chinese hamster cells and the alkylating abilities towards nicotinamide of the two diastereisomeric cis and trans-3-bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexanes were measured and compared with those of unsubstituted 1,2-epoxycyclohexane and bromocyclohexane. trans-3-Bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexane exhibited a mutagenic activity 2.5 times higher than that of its cis diastereoisomer, but very similar to that of the parent unbrominated epoxide, whereas the electrophilic reactivities towards nicotinamide were very similar for the three epoxides tested. Bromocyclohexane showed the highest toxicity, but no alkylating ability. The presence of an epoxide hydrolase activity in the V79 Chinese hamster cells used in the mutagenesis tests has been demonstrated using safrole oxide as the substrate, cis-3-Bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexane, but not its trans diastereoisomer, is hydrolyzed by the enzyme present in microsomal preparations from the V79 cells. The results indicate that for the cycloaliphatic compounds examined: (1) the introduction of a bromide substituent at the carbon adjacent to the oxirane ring does not cause an increase in mutagenicity, (2) the relative stereochemical configuration at the above carbon does affect the biological activity and (3) the significantly different mutagenicity of the two diastereoisomeric 3-bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexanes is not attributable to a different electrophilic reactivity, but could be related to some specific interaction with detoxifying enzymes present in the V79 Chinese hamster cells used in the biological experiments.

Biotransformation enzymes in nasal mucosa and liver of Sprague-Dawley rats.

The metabolism of hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA), aminopyrine, ethoxycoumarin, ethoxyresorufin, and pentoxyresorufin, by the monooxygenase cytochrome P-450-dependent system, was studied in microsomes from nasal epithelial membranes and liver tissue of Sprague-Dawley rats. Nasal metabolism rates for the different substrates ranged from 9% of liver values for aminopyrine to 83% for ethoxycoumarin. HMPA-demethylase activity followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics in nasal mucosa microsomes but was biphasic in those from liver. SKF 525A, metyrapone, dioxolane and alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF), inhibitors of various P-450 monoxygenases, were examined with regard to inhibition of nasal and liver ethoxycoumarin deethylase. In addition, activity of epoxide hydrolase, glutathione S-transferase, DT-diaphorase and UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UDP-GT) in nasal tissue homogenates were investigated. These activities were generally lower than those present in the liver. Various attempts to increase the activity of oxidative enzymes in nasal tissue by PB, 3-MC and ethanol failed, 3-MC and PB doubled the microsomal UDP-GT and the epoxide hydrolase activities. The results together with data from the literature suggest that the balance between P-450 isozymes and detoxifying enzymes differs in the nose compared with the liver. The activities of these enzymes in nasal tissue of different strains of rats also varies substantially with implications regarding the metabolic fate and activation of inhaled xenobiotics.

Hepatic microsomal metabolism of isoprene in various rodents.

Microsomal monooxygenases of various rodents metabolise isoprene to the corresponding monoepoxides, 3,4-epoxy-3-methyl-1-butene and 3,4-epoxy-2-methyl-1-butene. The kinetic constants (Km and Vmax) for the formation of the major products were determined by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC). The minor product was further epoxidised to the mutagenic isoprene dioxide by the microsomes of all rodents studied. The Km and Vmax for this subsequent epoxidation were determined and phenobarbital was found to be a good inducer in all species.