The metabolic fates of the nigrostriatal toxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) and its two-electron oxidation product, the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-2,3-dihydropyridinium species (MPDP+), have been examined in mouse brain and liver tissue fractions. Incubations of MPTP (50 microM and 1 mM) with mouse brain preparations result in the expected MAO B catalyzed formation of MPDP+. The four-electron oxidation product, the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-pyridinium species (MPP+), was the only other metabolite detected. The oxidation of 50 microM MPDP+ to MPP+ in the same preparations appears to be mediated by unidentified components present in membrane containing structures. The behavior of MPTP in mouse liver subcellular fractions is considerably more complex. NADPH-supplemented liver microsomes convert MPTP to the desmethyl and N-oxide metabolites. At high (1 mM) initial concentrations of MPTP there is evidence that NADPH-dependent, pargyline-insensitive liver microsomal enzymes also catalyze the oxidation of MPTP to MPDP+. Incubations of MPDP+ with mouse liver preparations containing the cytosolic fraction led to the rapid disappearance of the substrate and the quantitative formation of a metabolic product with mass spectral and diode array UV characteristics expected for a lactam structure. Menadione, an inhibitor of the cytosolic enzyme aldehyde oxidase, inhibits the formation of this product. Unambiguous characterization of this metabolite as 1-methyl-4-phenyl-5,6-dihydro-2-pyridone was achieved by comparison of its high-resolution 1H NMR and high-resolution EI mass spectra with the corresponding spectra of a synthetic standard.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)