Characterization of cytochrome P450 1A1 dependent monooxygenases in guinea pig heart revealed low rates of 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation, which are markedly increased (20-fold) by treatment with β-naphthoflavone, a poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Both 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation and 7-methoxyresorufin O-demethylation were found to be approximately 4-fold higher in microsomes prepared from the ventricle than the atrium of β-naphthoflavone-induced guinea pigs. The low rates of 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation in cardiac microsomes were due, at least in part, to a deficiency of the flavoprotein NADPH–cytochrome P450 reductase; addition of exogenous NADPH–cytochrome P450 reductase dramatically increased 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation in cardiac microsomes of guinea pigs, before and after treatment with β-naphthoflavone. N-Benzyl-1-aminobenzotriazole, a suicide substrate of cytochrome P450 1A1 in guinea pig, was able to inhibit almost all of the 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase and 7-methoxyresorufin O-demethylase activities in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon induced guinea pig heart (88 and 71%, respectively), suggesting that cytochrome P450 1A1 coupled to NADPH–cytochrome P450 reductase in these microsomes inactivates itself by a suicidal mechanism. Addition of α-naphthoflavone, an inhibitor of cytochrome P450 1A isozymes, to cardiac microsomes from β-naphthoflavone-induced guinea pigs resulted in greater than 95% inhibition of 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity. The biological significance of these low levels of cytochrome P450 1A1 monooxygenase activity in guinea pig heart and their induction by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are not currently understood.Key words: guinea pig, heart, cytochrome P450, NADPH–cytochrome P450 reductase, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.
Diallyl sulfide down-regulates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-induced cytochrome P450 1A1 in mouse liver and lung