Advertisement
Research ArticleArticle

Development of a Non-High Pressure Liquid Chromatography Assay to Determine Testosterone Hydroxylase (CYP3A) Activity in Human Liver Microsomes

Alison J. Draper, Ajay Madan, Kevin Smith and Andrew Parkinson
Drug Metabolism and Disposition April 1998, 26 (4) 299-304;

Abstract

The major pathway of testosterone oxidation by human liver microsomes is the formation of 6β-hydroxytestosterone, which is catalyzed by CYP3A4/5 and which accounts for 75–80% of all metabolites formed. In the present study, we describe a non-high pressure liquid chromatography assay (HPLC) of CYP3A4/5 activity based on the release of tritium (with formation of tritiated water) upon incubation of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone with human liver microsomes and NADPH. Unreacted testosterone and its metabolites were quantitatively extracted from the incubation mixture with activated charcoal under conditions that resulted in no extraction of tritiated water. The amount of tritiated water formed was quantified by liquid scintillation spectrometry and compared with the amount of hydroxylated testosterone metabolites formed, as determined by HPLC. Rates of tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone paralleled rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation as a function of incubation time, the amount of microsomal protein, and the concentration of substrate (which yielded identical apparent Km andVmax values). The sample-to-sample variation in tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone with a panel of human liver microsomes was highly correlated with rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation and terfenadine metabolism, two commonly used markers of CYP3A activity. Several recombinant human P450 enzymes were incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, and only cDNA-expressed CYP3A4 catalyzed a high rate of tritium release. The close agreement between the tritium-release assay and HPLC procedure for measuring testosterone oxidation indicates that tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone provides a simple and rapid alternative to the HPLC procedure for measuring CYP3A4/5 activity in human liver microsomes. However, the tritium-release assay may have limited value in measuring CYP3A activity in liver microsomes from other species due to the presence of other P450 enzymes that can catalyze tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone.

CYP3A41is one of the most abundant P450 enzymes expressed in human liver, accounting for approximately 30% of the total microsomal cytochrome P450 (Gonzalez, 1990; Guengerich, 1992; Parkinson, 1996;Shimada et al., 1994; Wrighton and Stevens, 1992). All human livers seem to express CYP3A4, although the levels vary widely (10-fold or more) among individuals. In addition to CYP3A4, 10–30% of human livers express the structurally and functionally related P450 enzyme, CYP3A5. Some adult human livers also express CYP3A3, which seems to be an allelic variant of CYP3A4, or CYP3A7, which is otherwise considered a fetal member of the CYP3A subfamily (Gonzalez, 1990; Guengerich, 1992; Parkinson, 1996; Wrighton and Stevens, 1992). CYP3A4 and, to a lesser extent, CYP3A5 are responsible for the metabolism of a wide variety of xenobiotics (such as drugs, pesticides, and chemical carcinogens) and endobiotics (such as steroid hormones) (Gonzalez, 1990; Guengerich, 1992; Parkinson, 1996; Wrighton and Stevens, 1992).

Induction of CYP3A4 and perhaps more importantly inhibition of CYP3A4 are important causes of drug-drug interactions (Guengerich, 1992;Parkinson, 1996; Wrighton and Stevens, 1992). For this reason, drugs and new chemical entities are now being screened for their ability to inhibit CYP3A4, based on a variety of HPLC-based assays including the 6β-hydroxylation of testosterone (Waxman et al., 1988,1991), the hydroxylation and N-dealkylation of terfenadine (Rodrigues et al., 1995; Yun et al., 1993), the 1′- and 4′-hydroxylation of midazolam (Kronbach et al., 1989), the oxidation of nifedipine (Guengerich et al., 1986), the M1-, M17-, and M21-oxidation of cyclosporin (Combalbertet al., 1989; Kronbach et al., 1988), and the 10-hydroxylation of R-warfarin (Rettie et al., 1992). In the present study, we describe a non-HPLC assay of CYP3A4/5 activity based on the release of tritium (with formation of tritiated water) when [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone is incubated with human liver microsomes and NADPH. The tritium-release assay is simple and relatively rapid and should, therefore, prove useful for screening new chemical entities as potential inhibitors of CYP3A4/5. Although the use of a radioactive substrate might be viewed a negative aspect of the new procedure, it has the added advantage that test articles will not interfere with the determination of CYP3A4/5 activity, which is occasionally a problem with HPLC analysis.

Materials and Methods

Chemicals and Reagents.

[1,2,6,7-3H]Testosterone (specific activity, 92 Ci/mmol) and [3H]water (specific activity, 18 mCi/mol) were purchased from Amersham International (Arlington Heights, IL). Testosterone, erythromycin, activated charcoal (mesh 250–350), terfenadine, and metoprolol tartrate were purchased from Sigma. Testosterone was purified by preparative reversed phase HPLC to remove traces of androstenedione and other contaminants. TheN-dealkylated metabolite of terfenadine, azacyclonol, was manufactured by Janssen Chimica but purchased from Spectrum Chemical Co. (Houston, TX). Hydroxyterfenadine (MDL 17,523) was obtained from Marion Merrell Dow (now Hoechst Marion Roussel, Inc.). Testosterone metabolites were obtained from sources described by Sonderfan et al. (1988). The steroid 5α-reductase inhibitor 17β-N,N-diethylcarbamoyl-4-methyl-4-aza-5α-androstan-3-one (4MA) was a gift from Dr. G. H. Rasmussen of Merck, Sharp, and Dohme (Rahway, NJ).

The bank of human liver microsomes used for this study was prepared and characterized by XenoTech L.L.C. (Kansas City, KS). All livers were obtained from the Midwest Organ Bank (Westwood, KS). The bank of microsomes was analyzed in 1995–1996 to determine the activity of the major P450 enzymes expressed in human liver (CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, CYP3A4/5, and CYP4A9/11) (Pearce et al., 1996). Microsomes prepared from B-lymphoblastoid cells transfected with cDNAs for human cytochrome P450 enzymes were purchased from Gentest (Woburn, MA).

Testosterone Oxidation: HPLC Analysis.

Rates of testosterone oxidation were determined by the reversed phase HPLC method described by Pearce et al. (1996).

Testosterone Oxidation: Tritium-Release Assay.

The method for determining rates of testosterone oxidation based on the release of tritium (with formation of tritiated water) from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone was patterned after the tritium-release assay for [4,6–3H]zoxazolamine described byTomaszewski et al. (1976). Briefly, liver microsomes (0.2 mg) were incubated at 37±1°C in 500-μl incubation mixtures containing potassium phosphate buffer (50 mM, pH 7.4), MgCl2 (3 mM), EDTA (1 mM, pH 7.4), NADP (1 mM), glucose 6-phosphate (5 mM), glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (1 unit/ml), testosterone (14–400 μM), and the steroid 5α-reductase inhibitor, 4-MA (1 μM), at the final concentrations indicated. Testosterone (0.7–25 mM) and 4-MA (1 mM) were added to each 500-μl incubation in 10 μl of methanol and 0.5 μl of acetone, respectively. Each sample contained 80 nCi of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, in addition to the nonradioactive testosterone, which was present at final concentrations ranging from 14 to 400 μM. Reactions were started by addition of the NADPH-generating system. Incubations were stopped, typically after 8 min, with 1 ml of water containing ∼75 mg of activated charcoal (the charcoal suspension was constantly stirred until all reactions had been terminated). The samples were vigorously mixed on a batch vortexer, and the charcoal was pelleted by centrifugation (2,500g for 15 min at 2–8°C). A 750-μl aliquot (i.e. 50%) of the aqueous phase was transferred to a scintillation vial containing 5 ml of biodegradable scintillation cocktail (Econo-Safe, Research Products International, Mount Prospect, IL), and the amount of radioactivity was determined by scintillation spectrometry with a Beckman LS6500 multi-purpose scintillation counter. Zero-time incubations served as blanks. All samples and standards were incubated in duplicate or triplicate. The experimental conditions were selected such that the amount of testosterone metabolized was <15%. Rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined from the empirical observation that 57 dpm of [3H]water in the aqueous phase was equivalent to 1.0 nmol of 6β-hydroxytestosterone when the final concentration of testosterone was 250 μM and the specific activity was 0.6 Ci/mol. The basis for this relationship is described underResults and Discussion.

The incubation conditions for the tritium-release assay were the same as those previously described for the HPLC procedure with two notable exceptions. First, the final volume was halved to 0.5 ml to reduce the amount of radioactive waste, although the amount of microsomal protein generally remained the same (0.2 mg per incubation). Second, each incubation mixture was spiked with 80 nCi of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, in addition to the nonradioactive testosterone, which was present at final concentrations ranging from 14 to 400 μM. The radiolabeled testosterone supplied by Amersham was evaporated to dryness and reconstituted in a methanolic solution of testosterone for use.

Terfenadine Metabolism.

The in vitro metabolism of terfenadine was carried out in 500-μl incubation mixtures (final volume) containing human liver microsomes (50 μg of protein), potassium phosphate buffer (50 mM, pH 7.4), MgCl2 (3 mM), EDTA (1 mM), NADP (1 mM), glucose-6-phosphate (5 mM), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (1 unit/ml), and terfenadine (4 μM) at the final concentrations indicated. Terfenadine was dissolved in methanol (20 mM) and added to each 500-μl incubation mixture in 0.1 μl. Reactions were started by addition of the NADPH-generating system and were stopped after a 4-min incubation at 37 ± 1°C by addition of an equal volume of methanol containing 1.0 μM metoprolol (internal standard). Precipitated protein was removed by centrifugation (∼2,000g for 5–15 min at 4°C). An aliquot (typically 200 μl) of the clear supernatant fraction was analyzed by HPLC as described below. Zero-time incubations served as blanks.

Terfenadine, azacyclonol, hydroxyterfenadine, and the internal standard, metoprolol, were resolved on a Supelco-cyano (CN) column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5-μm particle size) preceded by a Supelco-cyano guard column (4.6 × 20 mm, 5-μm particle size). The mobile phase was a 40:15:45 (v:v:v) mixture of acetonitrile, methanol, and 12 mM ammonium acetate buffer (pH 4.0). The flow rate was 1.5 ml/min, and the column temperature was 35 ± 1°C. Metabolites were monitored with a variable wavelength fluorescence detector with the excitation and emission wavelengths set at 230 and 280 nm, respectively. Under these conditions, the retention times for azacyclonol, hydroxyterfenadine, and terfenadine were approximately 8.9, 11.6, and 21.9 min, respectively. The internal standard, metoprolol, eluted before azacyclonol at approximately 6.5 min. The amounts of azacyclonol (formed by N-dealkylation) and hydroxyterfenadine (formed by hydroxylation) were estimated from a standard curve of peak area (AUC)vs. the concentration of a mixture of metabolites in six external standards, which were analyzed in each experiment. Sample-to-sample variation in injection volume was corrected based on the area of the internal standard added to each incubation. This procedure was based on analytical methods described by several investigators (Jurima-Romet et al., 1994; Ling et al., 1995; Rodrigues et al., 1995; Yuno et al., 1993).

Analysis of Kinetic Constants.

The apparent kinetic constants (Vmax,Km , and Ki ) were determined with an enzyme kinetics program from Trinity Software (Campton, NH, version 1.4.1), which weights data toward the higher reaction rates, which occur at high concentrations of substrate and/or low concentrations of inhibitor (weighting factor = 4).

Results and Discussion

The purpose of this study was to develop a non-HPLC assay, based on the release of tritium during the oxidation of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, that would allow rapid determination of the CYP3A activity in human liver microsomes. The ideal substrate would have been testosterone labeled with tritium in only the 6β-position, which is the major site of testosterone oxidation by CYP3A4 (Waxman et al., 1988, 1991). However, [6β-3H]testosterone is not commercially available and would likely be difficult to synthesize. Korzekwaet al. (1990) attempted to label specifically the 6β-position of testosterone with deuterium and observed that 74% of the deuterium was incorporated into the 6α-position. The [3H]testosterone used in these studies is commercially available and is labeled in the 1α-, 1β-, 2α-, 2β-, 6α-, 6β-, 7α-, and 7β-position. Most of the tritium is located in the 7β- (25%) and 6α- (20.1%) position. Only ∼6% of the tritium is located in the 2β- and 6β-positions (the relative distribution between these two sites is not known). Although the distribution of tritium in [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone is far from ideal, there were two reasons to believe that this substrate would serve its intended purpose.

First, CYP3A4 seems to be the only enzyme in human liver microsomes capable of hydroxylating testosterone at the 1, 2, 6, or 7-position. As shown in fig. 1, 6β-hydroxytestosterone accounted for 75–80% of all metabolites detected by HPLC when testosterone was incubated with multiple samples of liver microsomes, despite large differences in CYP3A activity. Other metabolites known to be formed by CYP3A4/5 (namely 6-dehydrotestosterone and 1α/β-, 2β-, and 12α/18-hydroxytestosterone) accounted for an additional 10.5 to 12.0% of all metabolites (data not shown). None of the samples of human liver microsomes catalyzed the 2α-, 6α-, or 7α-hydroxylation of testosterone, which would likely be formed by P450 enzymes other than CYP3A4 based on its predilection for abstracting hydrogen atoms in the β-configuration. Oxidation at other sites, including the formation of androstenedione and trace amounts of 16α-hydroxytestosterone, was not considered relevant (in terms of interfering with the assay of CYP3A activity) because little or no tritium label was present in the 16- or 17-position.

Figure 1
Figure 1

Testosterone oxidation by human liver microsomes.

Human liver microsomes (0.1 mg) from 12 individuals (numbered 14–25) and a pool of microsomes from 7 individuals were incubated with testosterone (250 μM) for 8 min, and the pathways of oxidation were determined by HPLC as described in Materials and Methods. The right column (labeled %6β) depicts the amount of 6β-hydroxytestosterone as a percentage of the total testosterone metabolites formed. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

Second, the 6β-hydroxylation of testosterone was shown by Bjorkhem (1972) to proceed with no isotope effect (KH/K3H = 1.0), so the tritium label itself should not bias the results. In contrast to the sample of tritium-labeled testosterone used by Bjorkhem,the percentage of tritium in the 6β-position of the sample of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone purchased from Amersham was too low to examine a possible isotope effect.

Inasmuch as the [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone used in these studies contained only 6% of the tritium in the 2β- and 6β-positions, it was necessary to remove all of the radioactive substrate to avoid unacceptably high levels of background radioactivity. As shown in table 1, addition of ∼75 mg of activated charcoal quantitatively (>99.95%) adsorbed [3H]testosterone such that the radioactivity in the aqueous phase decreased from >170,000 dpm to 30–50 dpm, which was then only about twice the level of background radioactivity. Under these conditions, no tritiated water adsorbed to charcoal (results not shown). No radioactivity (after blank correction) was recovered in the aqueous phase when human liver microsomes were incubated at 37°C with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone in the absence of NADPH (results not shown). However, when human liver microsomes (0.2 mg of protein) were incubated at 37°C for 8 min with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone (final concentration, 250 μM; specific activity, 0.6 Ci/mol) in the presence of NADPH, the amount of radioactivity in the aqueous phase increased 2–16-fold depending on the levels of CYP3A4/5 (discussed later).

View this table:
Table 1

Relationship between formation of 6β-hydroxytestosterone and [3H]water from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone oxidation by human liver microsomes

Complete (100%) metabolism of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone by human liver microsomes would result in only a fraction of the tritium being released from the substrate. Testosterone is hydroxylated mainly in the 6β-position, but this site contains no more than 6% of the total amount of tritium (the actual value is probably less than 6% because this represents the amount of tritium in both the 2β- and 6β-positions). Experiments were conducted to determine the relationship between the amount of radioactivity and the amount of 6β-hydroxytestosterone formed. As shown in table 1, when samples of human liver microsomes were incubated with 250 μM testosterone (specific activity, 0.64 Ci/mol), the amount of [3H]water formed was proportional to the amount of 6β-hydroxytestosterone formed. Formation of 1 nmol of 6β-hydroxytestosterone was associated with the formation of approximately 57 dpm of [3H]water. The total amount of testosterone in the 500-μl incubation mixture was 125 nmol, and 6β-hydroxytestosterone represented 75–80% of the total metabolites formed (fig. 1). Therefore, formation of 1 nmol of 6β-hydroxytestosterone represented metabolism of 1125 of the substrate, thus complete metabolism of the substrate would be expected to produce 7,125 dpm of [3H]water. This amount of tritiated water (i.e. 7,125 dpm) represents only 4.0% of the total amount of radioactivity added to each incubation mixture (each incubation contained 80 nCi of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, which is equivalent to 178,000 dpm). This suggests that approximately 4% of the tritium in [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone is located in the 6β-position, which is consistent with the manufacturer’s claim that the 2β- and 6β-positions combined account for ∼6% of the tritium in [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone. The amount of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone added to each 500-μl incubation mixture (80 nCi) was kept constant, but the amount of unlabeled testosterone was varied to achieve different substrate concentrations. When the amount of unlabeled testosterone was changed, the specific activity of tritiated testosterone in the assay changed accordingly, as did the relationship between formation of [3H]water and 6β-hydroxytestosterone. For example, when the concentration of testosterone was decreased from 250 μM to 125 μM with 80 nCi of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone added to each 500-μl incubation, the specific activity of tritiated testosterone doubled (from 0.64 to 1.28 Ci/mol), and formation of 57 dpm of [3H]water required formation of half as much 6β-hydroxytestosterone (i.e. 0.5 nmol instead of 1 nmol).

Sensitivity of HPLC and Non-HPLC Assays.

It would seem from the results shown in table 1 that the tritium-release assay is considerably less sensitive than the HPLC assay for measuring rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation by human liver microsomes. In the case of sample 19, the signal-to-noise ratio of the tritium-release assay was only 3.8 (186 dpm vs. 49 dpm), whereas the signal-to-noise ratio for the HPLC assay was almost 100 (4,600 pmol of metabolite formed vs. a limit of quantitation of ∼50 pmol/incubation). However, the sensitivity of the tritium-release assay can be improved simply by increasing the specific activity of the [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, as illustrated in fig. 2. When the specific activity of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone was increased, the amount of tritium released during the formation of 6β-hydroxytestosterone increased accordingly. For example, the signal increased 10-fold when the specific activity of testosterone was increased from 20 to 200 Ci/mol (fig. 2). However, the background radioactivity (i.e. the amount of radioactivity in the zero-time incubations) increased only 4-fold (from 79 to 313 dpm). Consequently, both the signal and the signal-to-noise ratio increased as the specific activity of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone was increased. Although beneficial from a sensitivity point of view, adding a large amount of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone to each microsomal incubation has the disadvantage of increasing the cost of the assay and increasing the amount of radioactive waste generated. The experiments described hereafter involved 500-μl incubation mixtures that contained 80 nCi of [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone plus 7–200 nmol of nonradioactive testosterone; hence, the specific activity ranged from 0.4 to 11.4 Ci/mol.

Figure 2
Figure 2

Effect of increasing the specific activity of [3H]testosterone on the amount of [3H]water formed by human liver microsomes.

Human liver microsomes (0.2 mg) from a pooled sample were incubated with testosterone (12.5 μM, 80–800 nCi/incubation), and rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined by the non-HPLC assay as described in Materials and Methods. Values are the amount of radioactivity (mean ± standard deviation) in 50% of the aqueous phase after subtraction of the blank (zero time) values, which were 79 ± 8 dpm for 20 Ci/mol, 91 ± 2 dpm for 40 Ci/mol, 142 ± 11 dpm for 80 Ci/mol, and 313 ± 21 dpm for 200 Ci/mol.

Effect of Time and Protein Concentration.

When human liver microsomes were incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone and NADPH, tritium release was directly proportional to incubation time for 30 min (at a protein concentration of 0.2 mg/incubation) and directly proportional to protein concentration (up to 0.4 mg/incubation) during a 30-min incubation, as shown in fig. 3. Most incubations contained 0.1 or 0.2 mg of microsomal protein and were terminated after 8 min. Inter-assay variability and intra-assay variability were no more than 10%.

Figure 3
Figure 3

Effect of incubation time and protein concentration on the 6β-hydroxylation of [3H]testosterone by human liver microsomes.

Human liver microsomes (0.05 to 0.8 mg) from a pooled sample were incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone (250 μM, 80 nCi/incubation) for different times (10–120 min with 0.2 mg protein/incubation) or at different protein concentrations (0.05–0.8 mg/incubation for 30 min). Rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined by the tritium-release assay as described inMaterials and Methods. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

cDNA-Expressed P450 Enzymes.

A panel of recombinant human P450 enzymes was incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone and NADPH, and rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined from the amount of tritiated water formed. As expected, cDNA-expressed CYP3A4 was considerably more active than any of the other recombinant P450 enzymes examined at catalyzing tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, as shown in fig.4. When the amount of each P450 enzyme in human liver microsomes is taken into account, CYP3A4 would be predicted to be the principal testosterone-hydroxylating enzyme, based on its high catalytic activity (fig. 4) and its abundance in human liver microsomes (Shimada et al., 1994). It should be noted that this panel of recombinant enzymes did not include CYP3A5, which would also be expected to catalyze a high rate of tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone (Wrighton et al., 1990).

Figure 4
Figure 4

Rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation based on the formation of [3H]water from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone by microsomes containing cDNA-expressed human P450 enzymes.

Microsomes (0.5 mg) prepared from human B-lymphoblastoid cells containing various cDNA-expressed P450 enzymes were incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone (250 μM, 80 nCi/incubation), and rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined from the amount of [3H]water formed, as described inMaterials and Methods. Control microsomes were from B-lymphoblastoid cells transfected with the vector alone. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

Human Liver Microsomes.

The rate of testosterone hydroxylation by 12 individual samples of human liver microsomes was determined both by the HPLC assay for testosterone 6β-hydroxylation and by the tritium-release assay. As shown in fig. 5, the sample-to-sample variation in testosterone 6β-hydroxylation determined by HPLC analysis correlated extremely well with that determined by the tritium-release assay (r = 0.98). In addition, rates of tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone correlated well (r ≈ 0.90) with the sample-to-sample variation in the rates of terfenadine hydroxylation andN-dealkylation, both of which are catalyzed by CYP3A4 (Rodrigues et al., 1995; Yun et al., 1993), as shown in fig. 6.

Figure 5
Figure 5

Sample-to-sample variation in testosterone 6β-hydroxylation by human liver microsomes: comparison of the tritium-release assay with the HPLC assay.

Human liver microsomes (0.1 or 0.2 mg) from 12 donors and a pooled sample were incubated for 8 min with nonradioactive testosterone (250 μM) or [3H]testosterone (250 μM, 80 nCi/incubation), and rates of formation of 6β-hydroxytestosterone were determined by HPLC analysis or by the tritium-release assay, respectively, as described in Materials and Methods. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

Figure 6
Figure 6

Sample-to-sample variation in terfenadine metabolism by human liver microsomes and testosterone metabolism determined by the tritium-release assay .

Human liver microsomes (0.2 mg) from 12 donors and a pooled sample were incubated with [3H]testosterone (250 μM, 80 nCi/incubation) for 8 min, and rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined with the tritium-release assay, as described inMaterials and Methods. Rates of terfenadine metabolism were determined by HPLC analysis, as described in Materials and Methods. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

Effects of Substrate Concentration.

A pooled sample of human liver microsomes was incubated with a wide range of substrate concentrations (14–400 μM [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, and the rates of formation of tritiated water and 6β-hydroxytestosterone were determined by the tritium-release assay and by HPLC analysis, respectively. Regardless of the analytical method, human liver microsomes catalyzed the hydroxylation of testosterone with an apparentKm of 50–60 μM andVmax of 4500–4900 pmol/mg/min, as shown in fig. 7. Because a constant amount of radioactive testosterone (80 nCi) was added to each incubated mixture, the sensitivity of the tritium-release assay did not decrease as the substrate concentration decreased (in fact, it actually increased). In contrast, the sensitivity of the HPLC assay decreased with decreasing substrate concentration, although 6β-hydroxytestosterone could still be readily detected even at the lowest concentration of testosterone tested.

Figure 7
Figure 7

Effect of substrate concentration on the rate of testosterone oxidation determined by tritium-release and HPLC assay.

Human liver microsomes (0.2 mg) from a pooled sample were incubated with testosterone (14–400 μM), and rates of formation of 6β-hydroxytestosterone were determined by the HPLC assay. Rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation (14–400 μM, 80 nCi/incubation) were determined with the non-HPLC assay as described in Materials and Methods. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

Inhibition by Erythromycin.

One application of the tritium-release assay is to screen drugs and new chemical entities as inhibitors of CYP3A4. Therefore, the amount of tritiated water formed when human liver microsomes were incubated with [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone was examined in the presence and absence of erythromycin, a known inhibitor of CYP3A4. As expected, erythromycin inhibited the release of tritium from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, as shown in the Dixon plot in fig. 8. In this experiment, human liver microsomes were incubated with erythromycin and [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone simultaneously, so there was little opportunity for erythromycin to function as a mechanism-based inhibitor. Consequently, erythromycin inhibited testosterone oxidation competitively with aKi value of 130 μM.

Figure 8
Figure 8

Determination of theKi for erythromycin inhibition of testosterone oxidation by human liver microsomes.

Human liver microsomes (0.2 mg) from a pooled sample were incubated with testosterone (12.5, 50, or 200 μM; 80 nCi/incubation) in the presence and absence of erythromycin (200, 400, or 600 μM), and rates of testosterone 6β-hydroxylation were determined by the tritium-release assay as described in Materials and Methods. Data are averages of duplicate determinations.

Conclusion.

The results of this study suggest that the formation of tritiated water from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone may be used as a selective probe of CYP3A4/5 activity in human liver microsomes. The tritium-release assay described in this paper is simple and rapid. Compared with the conventional HPLC method, the tritium-release assay is particularly suitable for the rapid screening of chemicals as potential inhibitors of CYP3A4/5. The tritium-release assay circumvents the occasional problem of test articles interfering with the detection of metabolites by HPLC.

In addition to screening chemicals as potential inhibitors of CYP3A4, the tritium-release assay should provide a simple method of phenotyping human liver microsomes for their CYP3A4/5 activity. However, the tritium-release assay may have limited value in measuring CYP3A activity in liver microsomes from other species because many of them contain P450 enzymes that can catalyze tritium release from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone (Sonderfan et al., 1987; Wood et al., 1983). In rat liver microsomes, for example, the 6α- and 7α-hydroxylation of testosterone by CYP2A1, and the 2α-hydroxylation of testosterone by CYP2C11 would be expected to release tritium from [1,2,6,7-3H]testosterone, which would be indistinguishable from the CYP3A-dependent release of tritium from the 2β- and 6β-positions. Therefore, the tritium release described here should be used with great caution with anything other than human liver microsomes.

Footnotes

  • Send reprint requests to: Dr. Andrew Parkinson, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, KS 66160-7417.

  • This work was supported by Grant ES03765 from the National Institutes of Health. A.J.D. was supported by NIH Training Grant ES07079.

  • Abbreviations used are::
    CYP
    cytochrome P450
    P450
    cytochrome P450
    4MA
    17β-N,N-dimethylcarbamoyl-4-methyl-4-aza-5α-androstan-3-one
    testosterone
    17β-hydroxy-4-androsten-3-one
    HPLC
    high pressure liquid chromatography
    • Received June 3, 1997.
    • Accepted November 26, 1997.

References

  1. ↵
    1. Bjorkhem I
    (1972) On the rate limiting step in microsomal hydroxylation of steroids. Eur J Biochem 27:354–363.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  2. ↵
    1. Combalbert J,
    2. Fabre I,
    3. Dalet I,
    4. Derancourt J,
    5. Cano J,
    6. Maurel P
    (1989) Metabolism of cyclosporin A: Purification and identification of the rifampin-inducible human liver cytochrome P-450 (cyclosporin A oxidase) as a product of P450IIIA gene subfamily. Drug Metab Dispos 17:197–207.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  3. ↵
    1. Gonzalez FJ
    (1990) Molecular genetics of the P450 superfamily. Pharmacol Ther 45:1–38.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  4. ↵
    1. Guengerich FP
    (1992) Human cytochrome P-450 enzymes. Life Sci 50:1471–1478.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  5. ↵
    1. Guengerich FP,
    2. Martin MV,
    3. Beaune PH,
    4. Kremers P,
    5. Wolff T,
    6. Waxman DJ
    (1986) Characterization of rat and human liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 forms involved in nifedipine oxidation, a prototype for genetic polymorphism in oxidative drug metabolism. J Biol Chem 261:5051–5060.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  6. ↵
    1. Jurima-Romet M,
    2. Crawford K,
    3. Cyr T,
    4. Inaba T
    (1994) Terfenadine metabolism in human liver: in vitro inhibition by macrolide antibiotics and azole antifungals. Drug Metab Dispos 22:849–857.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  7. ↵
    1. Korzekwa KR,
    2. Trager WF,
    3. Nagata K,
    4. Parkinson A,
    5. Gillette JR
    (1990) Isotope effect studies on the mechanism of the cytochrome P-450IIA1-catalyzed formation of Δ6-testosterone from testosterone. Drug Metab Dispos 18:974–979.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  8. ↵
    1. Kronbach T,
    2. Fischer V,
    3. Meyer UA
    (1988) Cyclosporine metabolism in human liver: Identification of a cytochrome P-450III gene family as the major cyclosporine-metabolizing enzyme explains interactions of cyclosporine with other drugs. Clin Pharmacol Ther 43:630–635.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  9. ↵
    1. Kronbach T,
    2. Mathys D,
    3. Umeno M,
    4. Gonzalez FJ,
    5. Meyer UA
    (1989) Oxidation of midazolam and triazolam by human liver cytochrome P450IIIA4. Mol Pharmacol 36:89–96.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  10. ↵
    1. Ling K-HL,
    2. Leeson GA,
    3. Burmaster SD,
    4. Hook RH,
    5. Reith MK,
    6. Cheng LK
    (1995) Metabolism of terfenadine associated with CYP3A(4) activity in human hepatic microsomes. Drug Metab Dispos 23:631–636.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  11. ↵
    1. Klaassen CD
    1. Parkinson A
    (1996) Biotransformation of Xenobiotics. in Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology: The Basic Science of Poisons, ed Klaassen CD (McGraw Hill, New York), 5th Ed. pp 113–186.
  12. ↵
    1. Pearce RE,
    2. McIntyre CJ,
    3. Madan A,
    4. Sanzgiri U,
    5. Draper AJ,
    6. Bullock PL,
    7. Cook DC,
    8. Burton LA,
    9. Latham J,
    10. Nevins C,
    11. Parkinson A
    (1996) Effects of freezing, thawing, and storing human liver microsomes on cytochrome P450 activity. Arch Biochem Biophys 331:145–169.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  13. ↵
    1. Rettie AE,
    2. Korzekwa KR,
    3. Kunze KL,
    4. Lawrence RF,
    5. Eddy AC,
    6. Aoyama T,
    7. VGelboin H,
    8. Gonzalez FJ,
    9. Trager WF
    (1992) Hydroxylation of warfarin by human cDNA-expressed cytochrome P-450: A role for P-4502C9 in the etiology of (S)-warfarin-drug interactions. Chem Res Toxicol 5:54–59.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  14. ↵
    1. Rodrigues AD,
    2. Mulford DJ,
    3. Lee RD,
    4. Surber BW,
    5. Kukulka MJ,
    6. Ferrero JL,
    7. Thomas SB,
    8. Shet MS,
    9. Estabrook RW
    (1995) In vitro metabolism of terfenadine by a purified recombinant fusion protein containing cytochrome P4503A4 and NADPH-P450 reductase: Comparison to human liver microsomes and precision-cut liver tissue slices. Drug Metab Dispos 23:765–775.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  15. ↵
    1. Shimada T,
    2. Yamazaki H,
    3. Mimura M,
    4. Inui Y,
    5. Guengerich FP
    (1994) Interindividual variations in human liver cytochrome P-450 enzymes involved in the oxidation of drugs, carcinogens, and toxic chemicals: Studies with liver microsomes of 30 Japanese and 30 Caucasians. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 270:414–423.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  16. ↵
    1. Sonderfan AJ,
    2. Parkinson A
    (1988) Inhibition of steroid 5α-reductase and its effects on testosterone hydroxylation by rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450. Arch Biochem Biophys 265:208–218.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  17. ↵
    1. Sonderfan AJ,
    2. Arlotto MP,
    3. Dutton DR,
    4. McMillen SK,
    5. Parkinson A
    (1987) Regulation of testosterone hydroxylation by rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450. Arch Biochem Biophys 255:27–41.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  18. ↵
    1. Tomaszewski JE,
    2. Jerina DM,
    3. Levin W,
    4. Conney AH
    (1976) A highly sensitive radiometric assay for zoxazolamine hydroxylation by liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 and P-448: Properties of the membrane-bound and purified reconstituted system. Arch Biochem Biophys 176:788–798.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  19. ↵
    1. Waxman DJ,
    2. Attisano C,
    3. Guengerich FP,
    4. Lapenson DP
    (1988) Human liver microsomal steroid metabolism: Identification of the major microsomal steroid hormone 6β-hydroxylase cytochrome P450 enzyme. Arch Biochem Biophys 263:424–436.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  20. ↵
    1. Waxman DJ,
    2. Lapenson DP,
    3. Aoyama T,
    4. Gelboin HV,
    5. Gonzalez FJ,
    6. Korzekwa K
    (1991) Steroid hormone hydroxylase specificities of eleven cDNA-expressed human cytochrome P450s. Arch Biochem Biophys 290:160–166.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  21. ↵
    1. Wood AW,
    2. Ryan DE,
    3. Thomas PE,
    4. Levin W
    (1983) Regio- and stereoselective metabolism of two C19 steroids by five highly purified and reconstituted rat hepatic cytochrome P-450 isozymes. J Biol Chem 258:8839–8847.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  22. ↵
    1. Wrighton SA,
    2. Stevens JC
    (1992) The human hepatic cytochromes P450 involved in drug metabolism. Crit Rev Toxicol 22:1–21.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  23. ↵
    1. Wrighton SA,
    2. Brian WR,
    3. Sari M-A,
    4. Iwasaki M,
    5. Guengerich FP,
    6. Raucy JL,
    7. Molowa DT,
    8. VandenBranden M
    (1990) Studies on the expression and metabolic capabilities of human liver cytochrome P450IIIA5 (HLp3). Mol Pharmacol 38:207–213.
    OpenUrlAbstract
  24. ↵
    1. Yun C-H,
    2. Okerholm RA,
    3. Guengerich FP
    (1993) Oxidation of the antihistaminic drug terfenadine in human liver microsomes: Role of cytochrome P-450 3A(4) in N-dealkylation and C-hydroxylation. Drug Metab Dispos 21:403–409.
    OpenUrlAbstract
Back to top

In this issue

Download PDF
Article Alerts
Email Article
Citation Tools

Research ArticleArticle

Development of a Non-High Pressure Liquid Chromatography Assay to Determine Testosterone Hydroxylase (CYP3A) Activity in Human Liver Microsomes

Alison J. Draper, Ajay Madan, Kevin Smith and Andrew Parkinson
Drug Metabolism and Disposition April 1, 1998, 26 (4) 299-304;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo

Jump to section

Advertisement