Abstract

Urine is the major route of excretion of N'-(2-chloroethyl)-N-[2-(methylsulfinyl)ethyl]-N'-nitrosourea (CMSOEN2), N'-(2-chloroethyl)-N-[2-(methylsulfonyl)ethyl]-N'-nitrosourea (CMSO2EN2), and their metabolites in the rat. Labeling the two compounds with 14C in three different positions facilitated their metabolic study in animals. The 14C-ethyl species were chosen in order to investigate the presence of unchanged compounds and that of the denitrosated forms. With the same 14C label position, we showed that isolated metabolites derived from this part of the molecule were degradation products of alkylated glutathione and/or cysteine. They are common to both CMSOEN2 and CMSO2EN2, namely thiodiacetic acid and its sulfoxide, the sum of which represents about half of urinary radioactivity. N-acetyl carboxymethylcysteine and N-acetyl hydroxyethylcysteine, accounting for approximately 6% to 7% of the eliminated 14C radioactivity, were also characterized. However, four minor metabolites corresponding to less than 10% of the excreted radioactivity remained unidentified. With the [14C]cysteamine and [14C]carbonyl labels related to the isocyanate moiety behavior, we indirectly showed that more than 60% to 70% of the excreted metabolites were carbamoylation products of endogenous substrates. A small amount of free amines, 2-methylsulfinylethylamine and/or 2-methylsulfonylethylamine, representing 15%-16% of the eliminated radioactivity, was also detected. The total data confirm the predominant function of glutathione and/or cysteine in the detoxifying system of the chloroethyl moieties and reveal the unexpected but important role played by carbamoylation reactions in the metabolic fate of the drug isocyanate moieties.