Identification of phenobarbital N-glucuronides as urinary metabolites of phenobarbital in mice.

Mice were evaluated for their ability to form phenobarbital N-glucuronides. Following oral administration of [14C]phenobarbital to mice, a radiolabeled phenobarbital metabolite cochromatographed with synthetic standards of phenobarbital N-glucuronides. The phenobarbital N-glucuronides were partially purified from the mouse urine as phenobarbital N-methylglucuronates. The phenobarbital N-methylglucuronates isolated from mouse urine had similar chromatographic and spectroscopic properties as synthetic standards. The diastereomers of phenobarbital N-glucuronides and phenobarbital N-glucosides accounted for 7.8 +/- 2.3% and 1.6 +/- 0.6%, respectively, of the radioactivity excreted in mouse urine in the first 48 hr after dosing. This study indicates that the mouse may be a suitable species to study both N-glucosidation and N-glucuronidation simultaneously as metabolic pathways for barbiturates.