Polydeuterated compounds in metabolic studies

Abstract

Polydeuterated compounds are valuable as metabolic tracers when radioactivity must be avoided. The isotopic composition, determined by mass spectrometry, may contain much useful information. Tri- and tetra-deuterated pregnane derivatives have been used to study progesterone metabolism in pregnant women. The high sensitivity obtained with polydeuterated steroids was utilized in a study of estradiol metabolism in rat uterus. Deuterium labelling at oxidizable hydroxyls makes it possible to study oxidation—reduction reactions, e.g., in studies on sulphated progesterone metabolites in man and on C 19 steroids in rats. Rapid ethanol—acetaldehyde exchange with intermolecular hydrogen transfer has been demonstrated in experiments with mixtures of [1,1- 2H 2]- and [2,2,2- 2H 3]-ethanol. Polydeuterated ethanol and glycerol have been used to study compartmentalization of precursors in the synthesis of ketone bodies and glycerolipids. Chiral [1- 2H]ethanols have been used to study stereoselectivity in the oxidation of ethanol depending on cytochrome P-450 as well as isotope effects and coenzyme compartmentalization.