Allometric scaling of hepatic biotransformation in rainbow trout

Abstract

Biotransformation may substantially impact the toxicity and accumulation of xenobiotic chemicals in fish. However, this activity can vary substantially within and among species. In this study, liver S9 fractions from rainbow trout (4–400 g) were used to evaluate relationships between fish body mass and the activities of phase I and phase II metabolic enzymes. An analysis of log-transformed data, expressed per gram of liver (g liver−1), showed that total cytochrome P450 (CYP) concentration, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) activity, and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity exhibited small but significant inverse relationships with fish body weight. In contrast, in vitro intrinsic clearance rates (CLIN VITRO,INT) for three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increased with increasing body weight. Weight normalized liver mass also decreased inversely with body weight, suggesting a need to express hepatic metabolism data per gram of body weight (g BW−1) in order to reflect the metabolic capabilities of the whole animal. When the data were recalculated in this manner, negative allometric relationships for CYP concentration, UGT activity, and GST activity became more pronounced, while CLIN VITRO,INT rates for the three PAHs showed no significant differences across fish sizes. Ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity normalized to tissue weight (g liver−1) or body weight (g BW−1) exhibited a non-monotonic pattern with respect to body weight. The results of this study may have important implications for chemical modeling efforts with fish.