PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Qing-Yu Zhang AU - Deborah Dunbar AU - Laurence Kaminsky TI - Human Cytochrome P-450 Metabolism of Retinals to Retinoic Acids DP - 2000 Mar 01 TA - Drug Metabolism and Disposition PG - 292--297 VI - 28 IP - 3 4099 - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/28/3/292.short 4100 - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/28/3/292.full SO - Drug Metab Dispos2000 Mar 01; 28 AB - Retinoic acids have important pleiotropic biological effects and thus the potential for human cytochrome P-450s (CYPs) to mediate retinoic acid synthesis was investigated. We examined the retinoic acid synthetic activity of human cDNA-expressed CYP1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 2A6, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, 3A4, 3A4+ cytochromeb5 (b5), 3A5, and 4A11, expressed individually in insect cells together with NADPH-P-450 reductase. Only CYP1A1, 1A2, 1B1, and 3A4+b5converted all-trans-retinal (20 μM) to all-trans-retinoic acid with turnover numbers of 0.53, 0.18, 0.20, and 0.41 nmol/min/nmol P-450, respectively. With 9-cis-retinal as substrate, CYP1A2 exhibited a turnover number of 1.58 nmol/min/nmol P-450 whereas CYP1A1, 2C19, and 3A4+b5 had turnover numbers of 0.40, 0.27, and 0.41 nmol/min/nmol P-450, respectively. For CYP3A4 activities with both retinals, b5 was required. Kinetic analyses revealed that CYP1A1, 1A2, and 3A4+b5 with all-trans-retinal had apparent Km values of 55, 356, and 255 μM, and Vmax values of 2.0, 8.3, and 6.3 nmol/min/nmol P-450, respectively, and with 9-cis-retinal had Km values of 77, 91, and 368 μM, and Vmax values of 2.7, 9.7, and 7.6 nmol/min/nmol P-450, respectively. The 9-cis retinoic acid synthetic activity of a group of 12 human liver microsomes correlated only with the CYP1A2 activity (r = 0.96), implicating CYP1A2 in human liver microsomal metabolism of 9-cis- retinal to 9-cis-retinoic acid. These studies have indicated that human CYPs are capable of catalyzing retinal to retinoic acid metabolism, but the physiological relevance of this metabolism is still unclear. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics