Hepatic Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylase Activity Research Articles

Effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on hepatic microsomal enzymes and disposition of methylnaphthalene in rainbow trout in vivo.

1. The effects of 3-methylcholanthrene, 2,3-benzanthracene and beta-naphthoflavone on xenobiotic metabolism in rainbow trout were studied. 2. These three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons increase hepatic arylhydrocarbon (benzo[alpha]pyrene) hydroxylase activity without altering glucuronyl transferase activity. 3. All three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons increased hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 levels by approximately 50%. 4. Pretreatment of trout with 2,3-benzanthracene resulted in an increase in the metabolism and biliary excretion of 2-methylnaphthalene in vivo. 5. These studies demonstrate that the induction of mono-oxygenation by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can result in significant effects upon the metabolism and excretion of xenobiotics by fish in vivo.

Effects of pentachlorophenol on hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes and porphyria related to contamination with chlorinated dibenzo- p-dioxins and dibenzofurans

The hepatic effects of technical and pure grade pentachlorophenol were investigated in female rats fed 20, 100 and 500 ppm of each for 8 months. Technical pentachlorophenol was contaminated with 8 ppm hexa-, 520 ppm hepta-, and 1380 ppm octachlorodibenzodioxtns and with 4 ppm tetra-, 42 ppm penta-, 90 ppm hexa-, 1500 ppm hepta- and 200 ppm octachlorodibenzofurans; pure pentachlorophenol contained less than 0.1 ppm of each of these contaminants. Technical pentachlorophenol produced hepatic porphyria and increased hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity, glucuronyl transferase activity, liver weight, cytochrome P-450 and microsomal heme, but not N-demethylase activity. The peak of the CO-difference spectrum of cytochrome P-450 was shifted to 448 nm, and there was a dramatic increase in the 455-430 ratios of the ethyl isocyanide difference spectrum. The enzyme changes were observed at 20 ppm of technical pentachlorophenol. Porphyria occurred at 100 and 500 ppm. Pure pentachlorophenol had no significant effect on aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity, liver weight, cytochrome P-450, microsomal heme, the ethyl isocyanide difference spectrum or N-demethylase activity at any dose level, but did increase glucuronyl transferase at 500 ppm. In contrast, both pure and technical pentachlorophenol decreased body weight gain comparably at 500 ppm. It is concluded that technical pentachlorophenol produces a number of liver changes which cannot be attributed to pentachlorophenol itself, but are consistent with the effects of biologically active chlorinated dibenzo- p-dioxins and dibenzofurans.

Genetic differences in the metabolism of carcinogens and in the binding of benzo[a]pyrene metabolites to DNA

1. 1.|Aromatic hydrocarbon “responsiveness,” or the Ah locus, controls in the mouse the induction of cytochrome P 1-450 and more than ten associated monoxygenase activities by polycyclic hydrocarbons. One of the induced activities is aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (EC 1.14.14.2), which metabolizes BP and other chemical carcinogens. 2. 2.|For certain substrates, cytochrome P 1-450 is known to produce a predominance of reactive intermediates and products that differ from those formed by other forms of cytochrome P-450. The aromatic hydrocarbon-treated responsive mouse therefore may produce, in various tissues throughout the body, quantitative and qualitative differences in reactive intermediates of a given test compound. 3. 3.|Numerous conditions in the mouse, which include an increased susceptibility to chemical carcinogenesis and drug toxicity, are therefore directly associated with the Ah locus — considered to be a single gene or a small number of genes. 4. 4.|The various forms of cytochrome P-450 in mouse liver or skin microsomes produce reactive metabolites of BP that bind to DNA in vitro. These results confirm the work of other laboratories in which rat liver microsomes or cell cultures were used. 5. 5.|Nine peaks, reflecting BP metabolites bound to DNA nucleosides, can be reproducibly identified from C3H, C57BL/6, and DBA/2 mice. When either the C3H or C57BL/6 strain is compared with the DBA/2 strain, a positive general correlation is found between the carcinogenic index in vivo and each of three determinations in vitro: the size of eight of the nine peaks, the hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity, and the total hepatic cytochrome P-450 content. 6. 6.|Peaks D, E, H, and I demonstrate relative differences among the three strains that are in the same direction as the carcinogenic index in vivo, i.e. the peaks are greater in C3H than in C57BL/6 and both are considerably greater than those in DBA/2 mice. When C3H mice are compared with C57BL/6 mice, however, no quantitative correlation is found between the carcinogenic index and the size or shape of any of the nine peaks, the hepatic hydroxylase activity, or the total hepatic cytochrome P-450 content. Hence, the total quantity of nucleoside-BP metabolites in each of the nine peaks is not necessarily associated with biological activity (i.e. cancer in vivo). It is suggested that a defect in the general immune competence of the C3H inbred strain may be an important factor in its markedly increased susceptibility to BP-initiated tumorigenesis, compared with the C57BL/6 strain. 7. 7.|With hepatic microsomes, peak G is associated, at least in part, with nucleoside-metabolite complexes involving BP-4,5-oxide, whereas the other eight peaks are associated predominantly with metabolites formed by cytochrome P 1-450 rather than other forms of P-450. With skin microsomes, all peaks including peak G appear to be associated with metabolites formed predominantly by cytochrome P 1-450. Peak E is associated predominantly with BP-7 8-diol-9,10-epoxide bound to one or more nucleosides. This reactive intermediate, oxygenated in the non-K region, is associated with genetically mediated increases in aromatic hydrocarbon-inducible cytochrome P 1-450. 8. 8.|Cultured human lymphocytes and microsomes from a human liver biopsy are both capable of metabolizing BP to intermediates that bind to DNA and cause peaks similar to those found with mouse liver or skin microsomes. (Permission to reprint the previously published material — Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and Tables 1 and 2 — has been obtained from the publishing house indicated in the references indicated).

Effect of administration route on DDT on acute toxicity and on drug biotransformation in various rodents.

DDT was administered to the guinea pig, mouse and rat either ig or ip and to the hamster ig in order to investigate variations in the response of hepatic and duodenal drug-metabolizing enzymes to DDT. The intragastric dose (160 mg/kg) was found to produce gastric bleeding and severe tremor in rats and mice but not in other rodents. The hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity and cytochrome P-450 concentration decreased after the ig administration of DDT to rats, mice and guinea pigs but in hamsters the activiy of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and cytochrome P-450 concentration increased 12 hr after the dosage. The aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity decreased also in the duodenal mucosa of the rat after the ig administration of DDT. The ip dose had no effects on the hepatic or duodenal monooxygenase system in 12 hr. The UDPglucuronosyltransferase activity was slightly lowered in hepatic microsomes of the rat and mouse after the ig dose of DDT, but the decrease was more profound when measured after in vitro trypsin digestion of microsomes. The trypsin digestion activated the hepatic UDPglucuronosyltransferase in all the species studied, i.e., guinea pig, hamster, mouse and rat (3-, 3-, 5-, and 8-fold, respectively). The duodenal UDPglucuronosyltransferase activity was not affected by DDT administration in any of the species studied. The results suggest that the acute toxic effects of DDT are species-dependent and the administration route is important in DDT toxicity. The hydroxylation step in drug metabolism is more sensitive to DDT than the glucuronidation step.

3,4,3',4'-Tetrachloro azoxybenzene and azobenzene: potent inducers of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase.

Two unwanted contaminants, 3,4,3',4'-tetrachloroazoxybenzene (TCAOB) and 3,4,3',4'-tetrachloroazobenzene (TCAB), formed in the commercial synthesis of 3,4-dichloroaniline or of herbicides made from 3,4-dichloroaniline, were responsible for three outbreaks of acne among chemical workers. TCAOB and TCAB are approximately isosteric to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran, two well-known contaminants that cause acne. All four of these agents are potent inducers of hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity and compete for stereospecific binding sites in the hepatic cytosol, which are thought to be the receptor sites for the induction of this enzyme. Among the chlorinated azoxy and azobenzenes, the potency of a congener to induce aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity correlates with its binding affinity for the hepatic cytosol specific binding sites and its capacity to induce acne; this relation between structure and activity parallels that observed for the chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans.

Organ specificity of the sex dependent regulation of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) in rat

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity was measured in liver, kidneys and lungs of control and gonadectomized Sprague-Dawley rats. There was a six-fold difference in hepatic AHH activity between male and female rat. Activity in male was highest, castration reduced this activity by about 50%, whereas ovariectomy had little effect on activity in female. No sex difference in lung AHH activity was discernable; on the other hand kidney AHH activity was higher in females than in males. These data suggest that, at least in the rat, sex dependent regulation of microsomal mixed function oxygenases is organ specific.

Stereospecific, high affinity binding of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin by hepatic cytosol. Evidence that the binding species is receptor for induction of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase.

We previously hypothesized that the genetic trait of aromatic hydrocarbon nonresponsiveness (the failure in certain inbred strains of mice of polycyclic hydrocarbons to induce aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity, and the diminished sensitivity to the more potent inducer 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is due to mutation which results in an induction receptor with a diminished affinity for the inducing compound. Following the intraperitoneal administration of [14C]TCDD (6 nmol/kg), hepatic accumulation of the radiolabel was greatest in C57BL/6J mice, intermediate in the hybrid B6D2F1/J mice, and least in DBA/2J mice, a pattern which mirrors the strain sensitivity to hydroxylase induction by TCDD (C57BL/6J greater than B6D2F1/J greater than DBA/2J). These data are compatible with receptor mutation theory and suggested that the hepatic uptake of TCDD is determined by the affinity of the receptor. In vitro experiments on the binding of [3H]TCDD to hepatic cytosol from C57BL/6J mice revealed a small pool of high affinity sites which stereospecifically and reversibly bind TCDD. The specific binding of [3H]TCDD to hepatic cytosol had an equilibrium dissociation constant KD of 0.27 nM and a maximum binding capacity of 84 fmol/mg of cytosol protein. Much less high affinity specific binding of [3H]TCDD was observed in hepatic cytosol from DBA/2J mice, but the KD was not estimated because of the limited aqueous solubility of the ligand. The binding affinity of 23 halogenated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans for this hepatic cytosol-binding species closely correlated with the potencies of these compounds as inducers of hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity. The polycyclic hydrocarbons that induce hepatic hydroxylase activity competed with [3H]TCDD for hepatic cytosol binding, but phenobarbital, pregnenolone-16alpha-carbonitrile, and the steroid hormones had no specific binding. The data suggest that the hepatic cytosol species which binds TCDD is the receptor for the induction of hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity, and that the mutation in nonresponsive mice results in an altered receptor with a diminished affinity for inducing compounds.

Dietary fats and properties of endoplasmic reticulum: II. Dietary lipid induced changes in activities of drug metabolizing enzymes in liver and duodenum of rat

Rats were fed cholesterol, cacao butter, or olive oil diets to determine the effect of dietary lipids on the rate of drug biotransformation in the liver and duodenum. The cholesterol rich diet maintained the hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity at the same level as did the standard diet. Rats fed olive oil and cacao butter diets showed lower hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydrorylase activity. The p-nitroanisole O-demethylase activity was doubled in hepatic microsomes of rats fed the high cholesterol diet when compared to rats fed the standard diet. The hepatic uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase activity showed different patterns depending on the in vitro treatment of the microsomal membranes. If the enzyme activity was assayed from the native, untreated microsomes, an increase in the measurable uridine diphosphate glucuronosyl transferase activity was found in rats having cholesterol rich diet. After the in vitro activation of membrane-bound uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase by trypsin, the increase in measurable activity was 10 fold in the group fed the standard diet, 6 fold in group fed cholesterol, 4 fold in group fed cacao butter, and 3 fold in group fed olive oil. Trypsin digestion of microsomes increased the measurable uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase activity less in rats fed diets rich in neutral fats than those fed the standard diet. In the duodenal mucosa, lipid diets decreased the activities of drug hydroxylation and glucuronidation.

Aryl hydrocarbon (benzo[a]pyrene) hydroxylases in liver from rats of different age, sex and nutritional status: Distinction of two types by 7,8-benzoflavone

Two types of aryl hydrocarbon (benzo[a]pyrene) hydroxylase have been distinguished in liver from rats of different sex and age by their sensitivity to the synthetic flavonoid, 7,8-benzoflavone. One type, which is stimulated by the 7,8-benzoflavone, is found in newborn rats and predominates in the liver of adult male rats. This type is inducible by phenobarbital. A second type, which is inhibited by 7,8-benzoflavone, comprises a larger fraction in the liver of adult female rats and is inducible by polycyclic hydrocarbons in immature and mature animals of either sex. The presence of this form in adult female liver is also indicated by the kinetics of the hydroxylase reaction. Removal of solid food for 18 hr not only decreases hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in female rats, but also lowers the degree of inhibition by 7,8-benzoflavone. Kinetic data suggest that at low concentrations 7,8-benzoflavone acts as a competitive inhibitor but at higher concentrations inhibits the hydroxylation reaction by a more complex mechanism.

Enhancement of microsomal drug oxidation and glucuronidation in rat liver by an environmental chemical, polychlorinated biphenyl

A polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compound, Clophen A 50, enhanced both hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and p-nitroanisole O-demethylase activities (7.5-fold and 16-fold, respectively), after treating the rats for 6 days with consecutive daily injections of Clophen A 50 (15 mg/kg i.p.). The treatment increased 3-fold the content of the carbon monoxide binding hemoprotein in liver microsomes, causing a concomitant shift in its reduced carbon monoxide absorbance peak to 448 nm. NADPH cytochrome c reductase, another component reaction of the microsomal mixed-function oxidase, was enhanced 1.5-fold in 6 days. A slight enhancement in the overall hydroxylation reactions was already observable 24 h after a single injection of Clophen A 50. The UDPglucuronosyltransferase activity of native liver microsomes was enhanced 3-fold in 6 days by the Clophen A 50 treatment of rats. The enhancement was, however, more pronounced, if the microsomes were treated in vitro with membrane-perturbing agents to activate the latent UDPglucuronosyltransferase before measuring its activity. After treatment for 6 days, the enhancement was about 6-fold in digitonin-treated, 5-fold in phospholipase C-treated and about 10-fold in trypsin-digested microsomes. No enhancement could be detected 24 h after a single Clophen A 50 injection. Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity was also enhanced in lung (5-fold), and kidney (8-fold) microsomes, whereas the microsomes from the duodenal mucosa exhibited no enhancement by a Clophen A 50 treatment of rats for 3 days. The data obtained support the assumption that PCBs form a new type of inducer group in enhancing the microsomal drug biotransformation. Both the monooxygenase complex and UDPglucuronosyltransferase differ in their properties from those after enhancement with the known types of inducers, exemplified by phenobarbital and 3-methylcholanthrene, respectively.

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity induced by cannabis resin: Analysis for polycyclic hydrocarbons

Crude cannabis resin was fractionated on silica gel plates with benzene as developer. Twenty-four hr after oral administration of 500 mg/kg of the crude resin or of 500 mg/kg of reconstituted resin after fractionation, pulmonary and hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity was enhanced in male rats (80 – 100 g). The material from 4 zones with R f values of (1) 0.82 – 0.96; (2) 0.62 – 0.78; (3) 0.20 – 0.60 and (4) 0.00 – 0.20 was isolated from the silica gel plates and given orally to rats at a dose of 200 mg/kg. All but the most polar fraction induced pulmonary aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity. The least polar fraction ( R f 0.82 – 0.96) was analyzed for polycyclic hydrocarbons by thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography. Benzo[ a]-pyrene was found to be present in quantities of 11 ng/mg of original resin; no evidence for the presence of 3-methylcholanthrene, 1,2,3,4-dibenzanthracene or 1,2,5,6-dibenzanthracene was found. Although benzo[ a]pyrene is a recognized carcinogen, it would not seem that its presence in cannabis resin ought to evoke undue concern, since present patterns of cannabis ingestion would not provide more of it than might be found in certain foods.

Genetic relationship between aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase inducibility and chemical carcinogen induced skin ulceration in mice.

Inbred strains of mice show differential skin inflammatory reactivity following the topical application of polycyclic hydrocarbons. Strains also differ in the extent to which hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity is induced by these compounds. Differential inflammatory response and hydroxylase inducibility are genetically controlled by alleles at the In and Ahh loci, respectively. Genetic analyses and strain surveys indicate that the In and Ahh loci are identical, or very closely linked.

Genetics of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase induction in mice: additive inheritance in crosses between C3H-HeJ and DBA-2J.

In certain strains of inbred mice, hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity is induced by parenteral injection of the carcinogen 3-methylchol-anthrene, whereas in other strains AHH activity is not induced. In most genetic crosses between inducible and noninducible strains, inducibility segregates as a single autosomal dominant gene. However, in crosses between strains C3H/HeJ (inducible) and DBA/2J (noninducible), inducibility segregates as a single gene and in an additive manner, with the inducibility of hybrid animals falling between that of the inducible parent and that of the noninducible parent. In crosses between strains C57BL/6J (inducible) and DBA/2J (the same noninducible parent crossed to C3H/HeJ), inducibility segregates as a dominant gene. This suggests that the genes responsible for inducibility of AHH in strains C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J are not identical. Whether they represent different alleles at the same genetic locus or genes at different loci has not been determined.

The genetics of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase induction in mice: a single gene difference between C57BL-6J and DBA-2J.

Twenty-one inbred strains of mice were surveyed for inducibility of hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity by the carcinogen 3-methylcholanthrene (MC). In 11 strains given MC, AHH activity increased 1.3- to 5-fold (inducible), whereas ten strains responded with a less than 0.5-fold increase (noninducible). Neither the inducible nor the noninducible class was homogeneous, and in each considerable variation was found in both the basal activity of AHH and the response to MC. Strains DBA/2J and C57BL/6J were chosen to represent the noninducible and inducible classes, respectively. In the crosses (C57BL/6 × DBA/2)F1 × DBA/2 and (C57BL/6 × DBA/2)F2, inducibility segregated as a single autosomal dominant gene. The gene symbols Ahh i and Ahh n are proposed for the alleles present in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J, respectively. No genetic linkage was found between the Ahh locus and the following loci: b, d, Es-1, Es-3, Gpd-1, Hbb, Id-1, Pgm-1, and sex. Some implications of this work in the study of mammalian enzyme induction and chemically induced carcinogenesis are discussed. There is a positive correlation between AHH inducibility and the development of an inflammatory response to the topical application of the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene.

The Kinetics of Sensitization with Whole and Fractionated Mouse Spleen Cells: A Preliminary Report

Male Fischer 344 rats were killed at various times after single or multiple treatments with polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), sodium phenobarbital (NaPB) or 3-methylchlanthrene (3MC). p-Chloro-N-methyl-aniline N-demethylase (PCNAMA) and aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activities were determined in the 14 000 g supernatant fraction (postmitochondrial supernate, PMS) of renal, testicular and hepatic homogenates. Cytochrome P-450 (P-450) concentrations were determined in the 100 000 g pellet fractions of the same homogenates and the effects of enzyme induction on the sentivities of AHH in PMS to inhibition by α-napthoflavone (ANF) and metyrapone (MET) in vitro were determined.Single treatments with PBB or PCB induced hepatic P-450 only, while multiple treatments with PBB, PCB or 3MC induced both renal and hepatic P-450; NaPB induced only hepatic P-450, while testicular P-450 concentration was unaffected by the inducers. Treatments with PBB, PCB or 3MC shifted the Soret maxima of renal and hepatic dithionite-reduced P-450 difference spectra to shorter wavelengths.Multiple treatments with PBB, PCB or 3MC increased renal and hepatic AHH activities, but NaPB induced hepatic AHH only. Renal activity was increased more rapidly than hepatic AHH after a single treatment with PBB, PCB or 3MC and returned more rapidly to control. The renal AHH induced by PBB and PCB, like that induced by 3MC, was more sensitive to inhibition by ANF in vitro than was renal AHH from naive rats. Hepatic AHH induced by PBB and PCB, unlike that induced by NaPB or 3MC, exhibited no net alterations in sensitivities to the inhibitory effects of ANF or MET. Testicular AHH activity was not induced by PBB, PCB, NaPB or 3MC.Multiple treatments with PBB, PCB or NaPB increased hepatic, but not renal or testicular PCNMA activities.The organ-specificity and time-dependency of the effects of PBB, PCB, NaPB and 3MC on P-450 concentrations and AHH activities suggest that drug metabolism in kidney, testis and liver are regulated by separate control mechanisms. It may be possible to exploit such differences in organ response to enzyme inducers as tools with which to discern the roles of local metabolism in renal and testicular chemical injury.