Characterization of O,O-diethylphosphoryl oximes as inhibitors of cholinesterases and substrates of phosphotriesterases.

ABSTRACT

Reactivators of organophosphate (OP)-inhibited cholinesterases (ChEs) are believed to give rise to phosphorylated oximes (POX) that reinhibit the enzyme. Diethylphosphoryl oximes (DEP-OX) that were generated in situ were demonstrated in the past to be unstable, yet were more potent inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) than the parent OPs. In view of the inconsistencies among reported results, and the potential toxicity of POXs, it seemed important to characterize authentic DEP-OXs, and to evaluate their interference with reactivation of diethylphosphoryl-ChE (DEP-ChE) conjugates. To this end, the diethylphosphoric acid esters of 1-methyl-2-pyridinium carboxaldehyde oxime (DEP-2PAM) and 1-methyl-4 pyridinium carboxaldehyde oxime (DEP-4PAM) were synthesized and chemically defined. The half-lives of DEP-2PAM and DEP-4PAM in 10 mM Tris buffer, pH 7.8, at 29 degrees were found to be 10 and 980 sec, respectively. The two DEP-OXs inhibited ChEs with the following ranking order for DEP-2PAM, human butyrylcholinesterase (HuBChE, k(i) = 2.03 x 10(9) M(-1) min(-1)) > mouse AChE (MoAChE) approximately equal to fetal bovine serum AChE (FBS-AChE) approximately equal to equine BChE (EqBChE); for DEP-4PAM, HuBChE (k(i) = 0.71 x 10(9) M(-1) min(-1)) > EqBChE > MoAChE > FBS-AChE. A dialkylarylphosphate hydrolase (phosphotriesterase; PTE) from Pseudomonas sp. catalyzed the hydrolysis of DEP-4PAM with k(cat)/Km = 3.56 x 10(7) M(-1) min(-1) and Km = 0.78 mM. Reactivation of DEP-ChEs was enhanced by PTE when 4-PAM-based oximes were used as reactivators, whereas reactivation with 2-PAM-based oximes was not affected by PTE. This observation is attributed primarily to the short half-life of DEP-OXs derived from the latter oximes. Relatively low doses of PTE can detoxify large quantities of DEP-OXs rapidly, and thereby augment the efficacy of antidotes that contain the oxime function in position 4 of the pyridine ring.