A monoclonal antibody against cytochrome P-450 enhances mutagen activation of N-nitrosodimethylamine by mouse liver S9: studies on the mode of action.

Abstract

The effect of the monoclonal antibody MAb 2-66-3, directed against the major rat liver phenobarbital (PB)-induced cytochrome P-450 (P-450), on the S9-mediated mutagenicity of N-nitrosodimethylamine (DMN) in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA1530 was studied using liver S9 from PB-treated mice. This MAb enhanced approximately 2-fold S9-mediated mutagenicity of DMN but inhibited both its N-demethylation and N-denitrosation by 50%. Thus MAb-mediated enhancement of DMN mutagenesis does not result from altered activation/inactivation pathways, both known to involve P-450 isozymes. DMSO, a hydroxyl radical (HO.) scavenger and desferrioxamine, an inhibitor of HO.-dependent reactions, quenched the MAb-mediated enhancement of DMN mutagenesis, implicating the HO.-dependent activation of DMN to mutagenic species. As a mechanism, we propose that the binding of this MAb to P-450 isozyme implicated in DMN metabolism decreases the functional coupling between the reductase and the P-450 complex, leading to an increased electron flow from the reductase towards molecular oxygen to form reduced oxygen species (HO.) at the expense of the monooxygenase functions.