Abstract

Carbon tetrachloride administration to rats produced a selective loss of hepatic cytochrome P-450-dependent catalytic activities. Of the cytochrome P-450-dependent catalytic activities tested, the metabolism of carbon tetrachloride to phosgene and the low Km N-nitrosodimethylamine demethylase were the most sensitive to destruction by carbon tetrachloride. A 50% or greater loss in these catalytic activities was observed 3 hr after giving 10 microliters carbon tetrachloride/kg. Related catalytic activities, such as the microsomal metabolism of carbon tetrachloride to chloroform and the high Km N-nitrosodimethylamine demethylase, were diminished less than 20% 3 hr after giving 10 microliters carbon tetrachloride/kg. To investigate further the relationship between the metabolism of N-nitrosodimethylamine and carbon tetrachloride, the effect of pyrazole, a known inducer of the low Km N-nitrosodimethylamine demethylase, on carbon tetrachloride metabolism was studied. Pyrazole treatment produced a 5.6-fold increase in the microsomal metabolism of carbon tetrachloride to phosgene and a 1.9-fold increase in the conversion of carbon tetrachloride to chloroform. The similarities between both the loss and the induction of the low Km N-nitrosodimethylamine demethylase and the metabolism of carbon tetrachloride to phosgene suggest that these catalytic activities represent a common isozyme of cytochrome P-450. Analysis of cytochromes P-450 by HPLC provided evidence for an isozyme of cytochrome P-450 inducible by pyrazole and destroyed by carbon tetrachloride.