A kinetic method for the determination of the multiple forms of microsomal cytochrome P-450

Comparative study of the affinity and metabolism of type I and type II binding quinoline carboxamide analogues by cytochrome P450 3A4

Compounds that coordinate to the heme-iron of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes are assumed to increase metabolic stability. However, recently we observed that the type II binding quinoline carboxamide (QCA) compounds were metabolically less stable. To test if the higher intrinsic clearance of type II binding compounds relative to type I binding compounds is general for other metabolic transformations, we synthesized a library of QCA compounds that could undergo N-dealkylation, O-dealkylation, benzylic hydroxylation, and aromatic hydroxylation. The results demonstrated that type II binding QCA analogues were metabolically less stable (2- to 12-fold) at subsaturating concentration compared to type I binding counterparts for all the transformations. When the rates of different metabolic transformations between type I and type II binding compounds were compared, they were found to be in the order of N-demethylation > benzylic hydroxylation> O-demethylation > aromatic hydroxylation. Finally, for the QCA analogues with aza-heteroaromatic rings, we did not detect metabolism in aza-aromatic rings (pyridine, pyrazine, pyrimidine), indicating that electronegativity of the nitrogen can change regioselectivity in CYP metabolism.

The kinetic mechanism for cytochrome P450 metabolism of type II binding compounds: evidence supporting direct reduction

The metabolic stability of a drug is an important property that should be optimized during drug design and development. Nitrogen incorporation is hypothesized to increase the stability by coordination of nitrogen to the heme iron of cytochrome P450, a binding mode that is referred to as type II binding. However, we noticed that the type II binding compound 1 has less metabolic stability at sub-saturating conditions than a closely related type I binding compound 3. Three kinetic models will be presented for type II binder metabolism; (1) Dead-end type II binding, (2) a rapid equilibrium between type I and II binding modes before reduction, and (3) a direct reduction of the type II coordinated heme. Data will be presented on reduction rates of iron, the off rates of substrate (using surface plasmon resonance) and the catalytic rate constants. These data argue against the dead-end, and rapid equilibrium models, leaving the direct reduction kinetic mechanism for metabolism of the type II binding compound 1.

Chemical synthesis, absolute configuration, and stereochemistry of formation of 10-hydroxywarfarin: a major oxidative metabolite of (+)-(R)-warfarin from hepatic microsomal preparations

The synthesis of a diastereomerically pure 10-hydroxywarfarin [4-hydroxy-3-(2-hydroxy-3-oxo-1-phenylbutyl)-2H-1 benzopyran-2-one] was accomplished in three steps from racemic warfarin. The relative configuration of the synthetic product was established by conversion to a cyclic derivative followed by NMR and X-ray diffraction analysis. Absolute stereochemistry was determined by enzymatic conversion of either of the pure enantiomers of warfarin to a 10-hydroxy metabolite of known relative configuration. Metabolic formation of 10-hydroxywarfarin was studied using hepatic microsomal preparations from female rats and man. The formation of 10-hydroxywarfarin catalyzed by hepatic microsomes from both dexamethasone-treated rats and man was highly stereoselective [(R)/(S): 3.4-9.0] for (R)-warfarin. In contrast, little stereoselectivity was observed in reactions catalyzed by untreated rat liver microsomes. The resultant stereochemistry at the site of oxidation was also found to be highly dependent on substrate stereochemistry. (R)-Warfarin gave (9R;10S)-10-hydroxywarfarin with only a trace of the (9R;10R) isomer irrespective of which enzyme preparation was used for catalysis, while (S)-warfarin gave (9S;10R)-10-hydroxywarfarin with only a trace of the (9S;10S) isomer, again irrespective of which enzyme preparation was used for catalysis.

Competing pathways in drug metabolism. II. An identical, anterior enzymic distribution for 2- and 5-sulfoconjugation and a posterior localization for 5-glucuronidation of gentisamide in the rat liver

Gentisamide (2,5-dihydroxybenzamide, GAM), a substrate that forms two monosulfates at the 2 and 5 positions (GAM-2S and GAM-5S) and a monoglucuronide at the 5 position (GAM-5G), was delivered at 8 or 80 microM by normal (N) and retrograde (R) flows to the once-through rat liver preparation. At the lower (8 microM) input concentration, ratios of conjugate formation rate, GAM-5S/GAM-5G and GAM-2S/GAM-5G, were decreased significantly (4.01 +/- 1.42 to 2.93 +/- 0.99, and 1.13 +/- 0.65 to 0.66 +/- 0.41, respectively) whereas a small but significant increase in the steady-state extraction ratio, E (0.89 +/- 0.029 to 0.94 +/- 0.016), was observed upon changing the flow direction from N to R. At the higher input GAM concentration (80 microM), conjugate formation rate ratios were relatively constant for GAM-5S/GAM-5G (1.18 +/- 0.08 to 1.11 +/- 0.12) and GAM-2S/GAM-5G (0.33 +/- 0.05 to 0.31 +/- 0.05) upon changing flow direction from N to R, despite a slight increase in E from 0.87 +/- 0.023 to 0.91 +/- 0.016 was observed. These results suggest that the sulfotransferase activities responsible for 2- and 5-sulfoconjugations are identically distributed and localized anterior to 5-glucuronidation activities during a normal flow of substrate into the rat liver (entering the portal vein and exiting the hepatic vein), and that the presence of uneven distribution of conjugation activities is discriminated only at the lower input drug concentration. At high concentration (greater than Km for all systems), saturation of all pathways occurs, and other anteriorly/identically distributed competing pathways would fail to perturb downstream intrahepatic drug concentrations and the resultant conjugation rates. The lack of change in metabolic profiles renders the condition unsuitable for examination of uneven distribution of enzymes in the liver. These observations were generally predicted by theoretical enzymic models of consistent distribution patterns. Because 2- and 5-sulfation were mediated by systems of similar Km but different Vmax values, two possibilities, the same isozyme of sulfotransferase being involved in the formation of two enzyme-substrate complexes to form two distinctly different products or two isozymes of sulfotransferases of identical distribution, were discussed.

A stable isotope assay for phenprocoumon and its metabolites

A gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric assay for quantifying phenprocoumon and its 4'-, 6-, 7- and 8-hydroxy metabolites in microsomal preparations is described. This assay which uses deuterium-labeled analogs of the phenprocoumon metabolites as internal standards has a lower limit of quantitation of 20 ng ml-1. Diazomethane is used to derivatize both metabolites and parent compound yielding along with the expected 4-methoxy derivative a minor amount of the 2-methoxychromone. Resolution of the methylated metabolites is accomplished by capillary gas chromatography.

Simultaneous formation of 2- and 4-quinolones from quinolinium cations catalysed by aldehyde oxidase

Quinolinium salts were incubated with partially purified aldehyde oxidase, and the products were separated by high-pressure liquid chromatography and fully characterized by u.v. spectroscopy, i.r. spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Oxidation of N-methylquinolinium salts with either rabbit or guinea-pig liver aldehyde oxidase in vitro gave two isomeric products, N-methyl-4-quinolone and N-methyl-2-quinolone. Incubation of N-phenylquinolinium perchlorate similarly yielded two oxidation products, N-phenyl-4-quinolone and N-phenyl-2-quinolone. The ratio of 2- to 4-quinolone production was species-dependent, the proportion of 4-quinolone with the guinea-pig enzyme being greater than that obtained with the rabbit liver enzyme. Kinetic constants were determined spectrophotometrically for both the quinolinium salts and a number of related quaternary compounds. In general, quaternization facilitated oxidation of a substrate, but a number of exceptions were noted, e.g. N-methylisoquinolinium and N-methylphen-anthridinium. Km values varied with the nature of electron acceptor employed, and this difference was more marked for quaternary substrates than the unquaternized counterparts. The product ratio obtained from N-methylquinolinium salts was found to be constant under various conditions, including purification of the enzyme and the use of either induced or inhibited aldehyde oxidase, but a change in the ratio was found at high pH values and in the presence of a competing substrate, N-methylphenanthridinium. This may indicate that a quaternary substrate binds to aldehyde oxidase in two alternative positions.

Effect of thioacetamide-induced hepatic necrosis on the regioselective metabolism of S-warfarin by rat liver mixed-function oxidase enzymes

The biotransformation of S-warfarin was examined using liver microsomes prepared from rats 6-96 hr after treatment with a necrotizing dose (5.6 mmoles/kg) of thioacetamide. Four catalytically distinct classes of enzyme activity were observed which declined in activity with different half-lives after thioacetamide intoxication. S-Warfarin 7-hydroxylase activity was destroyed with a half-life of 16.6 +/- 3.1 hr. 6-Hydroxylase activity was destroyed with a half-life of 25.3 +/- 3.0 hr. 4'-Hydroxylase activity was destroyed with a half-life of 34.6 +/- 4.8 hr, which paralleled the loss of total hepatic cytochrome P-450 with a half-life of 33.4 +/- 3.6 hr. Production of an unidentified metabolite was not affected by thioacetamide intoxication during the first 48 hr. The ratio of rates of product formation were used as an alternative method to test the homogeneity of distinct enzyme catalytic activities. The ratio of measured responses (e.g. chromatographic peak heights) was used directly to determine the product ratios, provided that the rate of formation of each product was directly proportional to the experimentally measured response for each product. The use of product response ratios to discriminate between catalytic activities was inherently more precise because calibration errors were eliminated. Differences in the rates of destruction of warfarin hydroxylases provided further evidence of the multiplicity of hepatic mixed-function oxidases and suggested topographical differences in their location within the liver lobule.

Kinetic studies of dose-dependent metabolism of alprenolol: in vitro and in vivo studies in different species

Kinetic studies of the metabolism of alprenolol were performed with isolated microsomes from the rat, guinea-pig, dog and man at an initial substrate concentration of 0.17--150 micrometer. In all species the rate of aromatic hydroxylation reached a plateu above 50 micrometer of alprenolol in contrast to the rate of desisopropylation, where consistent saturation level was not obtained. The Km-values for the aromatic hydroxylation in the guinea-pig and man, 2,7 micrometer and 1.3 micrometer respectively, showed no concentration dependency in contrast to the rat (Km1 = 0.20 micrometer, Km2 = 26 micrometer) and the dog (Km1 = 0.78 micrometer, Km2 = 66 micrometer). The apparent Km-value of 0.20 micrometer for aromatic hydroxylation in the rat seemed to be of the same order of magnitude as reported spectral dissociation constant (Ks = 0.34 micrometer). In vivo experiments in the rat by oral administration of 7--700 mu mol/kg demonstrated a dose-dependent presystemic elimination of alprenolol. The urinary excretion of hydroxy-alprenolol was significantly lower after the highest dose. It is proposed, that the saturation of the aromatic hydroxylation, catalyzed by a high affinity site or subspecies of cytochrome P-450 with a low capacity, contributes to the dose-dependent kinetics in vivo.