In vivo metabolism of chloroform in B6C3F1 mice determined by the method of gas uptake: the effects of body temperature on tissue partition coefficients and metabolism.

Mice exposed to various chemicals have been shown to respond by decreasing their core body temperature. To examine what effect such a response might have on the determination of in vivo metabolism, core body temperatures of B6C3F1 mice were recorded with temperature telemetry devices during exposure to chloroform (CHCl3) in a closed, recirculating chamber (100 to 5500 ppm). Significant decreases in body temperature occurred in all mice exposed to greater than 100 ppm CHCl3, with the greatest decrease of 14 degrees C occurring at 5500 ppm. A starting CHCl3 concentration of 4000 ppm had no effect on the 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase (ECOD) activity or P450 levels determined at the end of a 5-hr gas uptake exposure. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PB-PK) model was developed to describe the effects of decreased body temperature on the analysis of metabolic data. In vitro ECOD activity as a measure of in vivo P450 metabolism was determined for temperatures ranging from 24 to 40 degrees C. In vitro enzyme activity decreased linearly from a maximum at 37 degrees C to one-third of this activity at 24 degrees C. A linear equation describing this enzymatic activity-temperature correlation was incorporated into the PB-PK model structure to describe decreases in metabolic activity resulting from decreases in core body temperature. In vitro blood/air and tissue/air partition coefficients were determined for CHCl3 at temperatures ranging from 24 to 40 degrees C. All blood/air and tissue/air partitions increased with decreasing temperature, while the tissue/blood partition coefficients calculated from the tissue/air and blood/air partitions decreased with decreasing temperature. Adding these temperature corrections to the model greatly improved the overall fit of the gas uptake curves at all concentrations. Incorporation of a first-order metabolic rate constant was also required to provide an adequate representation of the data at high concentrations. The analysis of gas uptake data by the use of a PB-PK computer model is a very powerful technique for determining in vivo metabolism of many volatile compounds, but the incorporation of significant deviations from a generally used model structure (i.e., Ramsey-Andersen model) to account for shortcomings of the model's ability to adequately analyze a gas uptake data set should be based on data collection when possible.

Mechanism of maintenance of liver-specific functions by DMSO in cultured rat hepatocytes.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the mechanism by which dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) exerts its protective action on cytochrome P450-dependent activities and differentiation in cultured rat hepatocytes. Loss of cytochrome P450 is associated with a shortage of heme and reduced activity of delta-aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase: the addition of DMSO, which induces this enzyme in human hepatoma cells, is not able to affect it in hepatocytes in primary culture. DMSO is a strong scavenger of hydroxyl radicals and may destroy the reactive oxygen species formed under conventional culture conditions (i.e., 95% air and 5% CO2). In fact other powerful scavengers of oxygen radicals like dimethylthiourea, desferal, and catalase itself maintain higher levels of cytochrome P450 and higher activities of 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase during 3 days of culture. DMSO and the other scavengers are also able to retain features of the morphological and biochemical differentiation of hepatocytes such as the ability to induce tyrosine aminotransferase activity in response to glucocorticoids.

Cytochrome P-450 isozyme pattern is related to individual susceptibility to diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cancer in rats.

Differences in susceptibility to chemical carcinogenesis between rodent strains and species have been linked to variations in genetically-determined mixed function oxidase activities. In order to verify whether such variations also determine the susceptibility of individual animals of the same strain to a chemical carcinogen, outbred male Wistar rats were administered diethylnitrosamine (DEN) (1, 2, or 3 mg/kg) five times a week for 20 weeks. The relationship was examined between the outcome (i.e., presence or absence of liver tumors, and latency period) and the hepatic activities of mixed function oxidases and conjugating enzymes, as well as of O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase, measured before the carcinogen treatment. In addition, the metabolic profiles of two model drugs, antipyrine and disopyramide, in the urine were analyzed and correlated with the carcinogen susceptibility. The length of the latency period of hepatocellular tumors in individual rats was negatively related to the activities of hepatic dimethylnitrosamine N-demethylase, aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and epoxide hydrolase and positively related to the amount of microsomal protein. Consistent relationships between the other 10 measured parameters and the susceptibility to DEN-induced carcinogenesis were not detected. Long-term treatment with DEN slightly decreased the proportion of metabolism of antipyrine into norantipyrine, and increased the share of 4-hydroxyantipyrine; a decrease in the metabolism of disopyramide to N-deisopropyldisopyramide was also detected. It is concluded that the pattern of cytochrome P-450 isoenzymes is related to differences in individual susceptibility to nitrosamine-induced carcinogenesis. The relationship was most marked at low dose levels, which are the levels at which nitrosamine exposures of humans are known to occur.