Steroid hydroxylations: a paradigm for cytochrome P450 catalyzed mammalian monooxygenation reactions.

The present article reviews the history of research on the hydroxylation of steroid hormones as catalyzed by enzymes present in mammalian tissues. The report describes how studies of steroid hormone synthesis have played a central role in the discovery of the monooxygenase functions of the cytochrome P450s. Studies of steroid hydroxylation reactions can be credited with showing that: (a) the adrenal mitochondrial enzyme catalyzing the 11beta-hydroxylation of deoxycorticosterone was the first mammalian enzyme shown by O18 studies to be an oxygenase; (b) the adrenal microsomal enzyme catalyzing the 21-hydroxylation of steroids was the first mammalian enzyme to show experimentally the proposed 1:1:1 stoichiometry (substrate:oxygen:reduced pyridine nucleotide) of a monooxygenase reaction; (c) application of the photochemical action spectrum technique for reversal of carbon monoxide inhibition of the 21-hydroxylation of 17alpha-OH progesterone was the first demonstration that cytochrome P450 was an oxygenase; (d) spectrophotometric studies of the binding of 17alpha-OH progesterone to bovine adrenal microsomal P450 revealed the first step in the cyclic reaction scheme of P450, as it catalyzes the "activation" of oxygen in a monooxygenase reaction; (e) purified adrenodoxin was shown to function as an electron transport component of the adrenal mitochondrial monooxygenase system required for the activity of the 11beta-hydroxylase reaction. Adrenodoxin was the first iron-sulfur protein isolated and purified from mammalian tissues and the first soluble protein identified as a reductase of a P450; (f) fractionation of adrenal mitochondrial P450 and incubation with adrenodoxin and a cytosolic (flavoprotein) fraction were the first demonstration of the reconstitution of a mammalian P450 monooxygenase reaction.

Professor Howard Mason and oxygen activation.

Our understanding of the classification, function, mechanism, and structure of the enzymes which incorporate atoms of oxygen from atmospheric molecular oxygen during catalysis is based on the thoughtful and technically challenging experiments of two giants in the field of Biochemistry, Howard Mason and Osamu Hayaishi. This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of the discovery and characterization of these "oxygenase" enzymes and provides a broad view of how far this area of research has advanced. Professor Hayaishi describes herein his perspective on the background and major discoveries which led to the development of this field. Regrettably Howard Mason passed away at age 88 in 2003. I am indeed fortunate to have been a Ph.D. student with Howard and to have the opportunity to briefly review his role in the development of this field for this special commemorative issue of BBRC.

Early years of oxygenase research in Bethesda, Osaka, Urbana, and Kanazawa.

In this brief review, I recollect my experiences of how the studies of pyrocatechase and salicylate hydroxylase led to the isolation and revelation of P450cam. Those experiences were instrumental in the separation, purification, and characterization of the two forms of adrenal cortex mitochondrial P450.

Mechanisms of monooxygenase induction and inhibition.

The mechanisms of monooxygenase induction and inhibition have been discussed from the standpoint of historic development, from the current concepts about the molecular mechanism of enzyme induction, and from the various possibilities by which inhibitors can interact with the complex cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase system. In detail the main features and phenomena of induction and of the induced new enzyme protein are briefly described, whereby general principles are emphasized. The current knowledge on the mechanism of induction is exemplified by a description of the inducing action of TCDD on mouse hepatoma cells. A special example of increase in the molecular activity towards 7-ethoxycoumarin-0-deethylation is given by the action of sulmazole on mouse liver cytochrome P-450. It possesses properties similar to that of cobaltous chloride in that it decreases the amount of cytochrome P-450 in the microsomal protein but at the same time increases the molecular activity to about a four-fold level. The mechanisms of inhibition of the microsomal monooxygenase are explained in general terms by outlining the various modes of inhibitory action that lead to a decrease in enzyme activity.