Comparison of the effects of phenobarbital and its hydroxylated metabolites on drug-metabolizing enzymes during ontogenesis.

Twenty-two-day-old fetal and five-day-old newborn rats were pretreated with phenobarbital and its hydroxylated metabolites. Drug-metabolizing enzymes (cytochrome P450, epoxide hydrolase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, and glutathione-S-transferase) and microsomal ribonuclease were not modified in fetuses treated with 80 or 400 mg . kg-1 of p-hydroxyphenobarbital, in spite of its accumulation in fetal liver. At fetal age, phenobarbital was a poor inducer of drug-metabolizing enzymes. In five-day-old newborns, p-hydroxyphenobarbital provoked a proliferation of endoplasmic reticulum without enzyme induction, whereas phenobarbital induced some drug-metabolizing enzymes. Thus, the effects of p-hydroxyphenobarbital and phenobarbital are retained in five-day-old rats, but undetectable in the fetuses.