Continous fluorometric assay of epoxide hydrase activity.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D M Jerina.
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Highly purified hepatic microsomal epoxide hydrase, which had been purified in the presence of proteolytic enzyme inhibitors, was subjected to carboxypeptidase Y digestion, automated Edman degradation, and carbohydrate analysis. Carboxypeptidase Y digestion resulted in the near stoichiometric release of leucine, the COOH-terminal amino acid. Automated Edman degradation permitted the identification of the first 20 amino acid residues of epoxide hydrase. Methionine was identified as the NH2-terminal residue. The NH2-terminal region of epoxide hydrase is similar in hydrophobicity to the NH2-terminal precursor segments of several secretory proteins and the NH2-terminal regions of several microsomal cytochromes P-450. Carbohydrate analyses of the enzyme revealed the presence of 0.5 to 1.0 mol of mannose/50,000 g of protein. These results provide evidence for the presence of a single polypeptide chain in our purified enzyme preparations and suggest that there may be only one enzymic form of epoxide hydrase in microsomes from phenobarbital-treated rats.
Human liver microsomal epoxide hydrase has been highly purified to a specific activity (570 to 620 nmol/min/mg of protein) comparable to that of the rat enzyme using styrene oxide as substrate. Like the purified rat liver microsomal epoxide hydrase, the human enzyme has a minimum molecular weight of 49,000 as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and exhibits broad substrate specificity toward a variety of alkene and arene oxides. Despite these similarities, the human and rat enzymes are different proteins as judged by their immunochemical properties as well as their relative catalytic activities toward certain substrates.
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Through application of the exciton chirality method, absolute stereochemistry has been assigned to the (+)-and (-)-enantiomers of four of the five metabolically possible trans-dihydrodiols of the polycyclic hydrocarbon benzo[a]anthracene (BA). The (+)- and (-)-enantiomers of each of these dihydrodiols can be separated as their diastereomeric bis-esters with (-)-alpha-methoxy-alpha-trifluoromethylphenylacetic acid by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). BA 3,4-, 5,6-, 8,9- and 10,11-dihydrodiol are formed in 38%, 36%, 78% and 66% enantiometric purity, respectively, by liver microsomes from phenobarbital-treated rats, whereas the liver microsomes from 3-methylcholanthrene(MC)-treated rats form BA 5,6-, 8,9- and 10,11-dihydrodiols with higher optical purity (62%, 96% and 96%, respectively). BA 3,4-dihydrodiol is formed from (+/-)-BA 3,4-oxide by microsomal epoxide hydrase in very high enantiometric purity (78%). The major enantiomer of the BA dihydrodiols formed by liver enzymes has R,R absolute stereochemistry in each case. In parallel with previous studies on the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene, the more tumorigenic (-)-enantiomer is the predominant isomer of BA 3,4-dihydrodiol formed by liver microsomes from BA.
In order to study the biological effects of (+)- and (-)-benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide, a synthesis of these molecules has been developed based on the resolution of (+/-)-cis-4,5-dihydroxy-4,5-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene. The (-) enantiomer of benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide was 1.5- to 5.5-fold more mutagenic than the (+) enantiomer in strains TA 98, TA 100, TA 1537, and TA 1538 of Salmonella typhimurium and in Chinese hamster V79 cells. In studies with V79 Cells, the (-) enantiomer of benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide was also more cytotoxic than the (+) enantiomer. When mixtures of the enantiomers were studied in V79 cells, synergistic cytotoxic and mutagenic responses were observed. The greatest cytotoxic and mutagenic effects occurred with a 3:1 mixture of the (-) and (+) enantiomers of benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide, respectively.
The neoplastic effects of administration of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) and (+/-)-trans-7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BP 7,8-dihydrodiol) by oral intubation to noninbred female Ha:ICR mice have been determined. Under the experimental conditions, BP induced papillomas of the forestomach. BP 7,8-dihydrodiol also induced papillomas of the forestomach and was more potent than BP. In addition, administration of BP 7,8-dihydrodiol caused a large number of pulmonary adenomas and lymphomas. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) added to the diet at a concentration of 5 mg/g inhibited BP-induced neoplasia of the forestomach. BHA also inhibited neoplasia of the forestomach, lungs, and lymphoid tissues that was caused by administration of BP 7,8-dihydrodiol. These data suggest that the inhibitory effect of BHA on BP carcinogenesis may entail events that occur subsequent to the formation of BP 7,8-dihydrodiol.
The tumorigenic activity of benz[a]anthracene (BA), the (+)- and (-)-enantiomers of trans-3,4-dihydroxy-3,4-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene (BA 3,4-dihydrodiol), and the racemic diastereomers of the BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxides [i.e., either or both of the diastereomeric 1,2-epoxides derived from BA 3,4-dihydrodiol in which the epoxide oxygen is cis (diol epoxide-1) or trans (diol epoxide-2) to the benzylic 4-hydroxyl group) was examined in newborn Swiss-Webster mice. The mice were administered ip a total dose of 280 nmoles of compound in divided doses consisting of 40 nmoles within 24 hours of birth, 80 nmoles at 8 days of age, and 160 nmoles at 15 days of age. The experiment was terminated when the animals were 26 weeks of age. BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxide-2 was the most potent compound tested. All animals treated with BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxide-2 developed pulmonary tumors with an average of 13.3 tumors per mouse. BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxide-1 produced pulmonary tumors in 42% of the mice with an average of only 0.56 tumors per mouse. The (-)-enantiomer of BA 3,4-dihydrodiol with [3R,4R] absolute stereochemistry was the second most tumorigenic derivative of BA tested; it produced pulmonary tumors in 71% of the mice with an average of 1.88 tumors per mouse. BA and the (+)-enantiomer of BA 3,4-dihydrodiol had little or no tumorigenic activity at the dose tested. A comparison of the average number of pulmonary tumors per mouse revealed that BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxide-2 was about 30-fold more tumorigenic than was BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxide-1, 8-fold more tumorigenic than was (-)-BA 3,4-dihydrodiol, and greater than 85-fold more tumorigenic than was BA. These data indicate that in newborn mice BA 3,4-dihydrodiol and a BA 3,4-diol-1,2-epoxide are proximate and ultimate carcinogenic metabolites of BA, respectively.
Benzo(a)pyrene (BP), 2-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene (2-HOBP), and 6-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene (6-HOBP) were tested for tumorigenicity by i.p. injection into newborn mice. The mice were treated sequentially with 200, 400, and 800 nmol of compound on the first, eighth and fifteenth day of life, and the animals were killed at 24 weeks of age. Treatment with 2-HOBP caused about 4-fold more pulmonary tumors than BP, while 6-HOBP had little or no tumorigenic activity. Newborn mice treated with 2-HOBP, BP, and 6-HOBP had a 98, 81, and 11% incidence of pulmonary adenomas with an average of 24, 6.4, and 0.11 adenomas per mouse, respectively. In the control group, 7.5% of the animals had pulmonary adenomas with an average of 0.08 adenoma per mouse. When 25, 50, or 100 nmol of BP or 2-HOBP was applied to mouse skin once every 2 weeks for 60 weeks, both compounds had about the same carcinogenic activity. These results demonstrate the importance of evaluating the carcinogenic potential of chemicals in more than one tumor system. BP and 2-HOBP were tested for mutagenicity towards two strains of Salmonella typhimurium and towards Chinese hamster V79 cells in the presence of hepatic microsomes from rats pretreated with Aroclor 1254. The products formed during the metabolism of 2-HOBP or BP by liver microsomes had significant mutagenic activity.
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The mechanism of liver microsomal aromatic hydroxylation has been investigated by using cumene hydroperoxide as the hydroxylating agent and comparing this reaction with the NADPH-dependent reaction. The conversion of [4-(3)H]acetanilide to 4-hydroxyacetanilide by rat liver microsomes (or purified cytochrome P-450) in the presence of either cumene hydroperoxide or NADPH is attended by comparable 'NIH shifts'. This indicates that hydroxylation in the two systems proceeds via a common intermediate, presumably an arene oxide. The intermediacy of an arene oxide, phenanthrene-9,10-oxide, is established by incubating [3-(3)H]-phenanthrene with rat-liver microsomes and cumene hydroperoxide in the presence of either non-radioactive phenanthrene-9,10-oxide as a 'trap' or in the presence of cyclohexene oxide, an inhibitor of the enzyme epoxide hydrase. Incubation of phenanthrene with cumene hydroperoxide in an 18O-enriched medium has confirmed that the oxygen atom in phenanthrene-9,10-oxide is derived from the hydroperoxide and not from the medium.
The effects of a wide variety of chemical modification reagents on the activity of purified rat liver microsomal epoxide hydrase have been investigated. Alkylating agents, such as the phenacyl bromides and benzyl bromide are potent inhibitors of epoxide hydrase. 2-Bromo-4'-nitroacetophenone (p-nitrophenacyl bromide) specifically and irreversibly inactivates epoxide hydrase. Pseudo-first order kinetics of inhibition is observed at higher inhibitor/enzyme ratios. The rate of inactivation is controlled by a group on the enzyme with an apparent pKa of 7.6. Inactivation of the enzyme with 14C-labeled 2-bromo-4'-nitroacetophenone leads to the incorporation of approximately 1 mol of radioactive inhibitor/mol of protein. Epoxide hydrase can be protected against this inactivation by the substrate phenanthrene-9,10-oxide. These results are consistent with the interpretation that 2-bromo-4'-nitroacetophenone acts as an active site-directed inhibitor. The site of alkylation by 2-bromo-4'-nitroacetophenone is a histidine residue of epoxide hydrase. The N-alkylated histidine derivative has been identified as 1-(p-nitrophenacyl)-4-histidine. A possible mechanism for the enzymatic hydration catalyzed by epoxide hydrase is discussed which involves a histidine residue of the enzyme serving as a general base catalyst for the nucleophilic addition of water.