Cytosolic activation of aromatic and heterocyclic amines. Inhibition by dicoumarol and enhancement in viral hepatitis B.

The aromatic amines 2-aminofluorene (2AF), 2-acetylaminofluorene, and 2-aminoanthracene, and the heterocyclic amines 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ), 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline, and 3-amino-1-methyl-SH-pyrido[4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-2) were activated by rat liver cytosolic fractions to form mutagenic metabolites in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, TA98NR, and TA98/1,8-DNP6. In the case of the Trp-P-2, the cytosolic activation was even more potent than the microsomal activation, which is classically ascribed to N-hydroxylation and subsequent esterification. The cytosolic activation was a) NADPH-dependent, b) induced by pretreatment of rats with 3-methylcholanthrene and especially Aroclor 1254 but not by phenobarbital, and c) inhibited by dicoumarol. The hypothesis is that, following a preliminary oxidative step in the cytosol (pure cytosolic activation) or in microsomes via prostaglandin H synthase (mixed microsomal-cytosolic activation), an oxidized intermediate of amino compounds may serve as substrate for DT diaphorase activity and bielectronically reduced to the corresponding N-hydroxyamino derivative. Purified DT diaphorase, in the presence of either NADPH or NADH as electron donor, produced mutagenic derivatives from IQ and Trp-P-2. An NADPH-dependent activation of Trp-P-2 also occurred in the liver cytosol of woodchucks (Marmota monax), but was not inhibited by dicoumarol. As previously demonstrated with liver S-12 fractions in both humans and woodchucks, the cytosolic activation of Trp-P-2 was enhanced in animals affected by hepatitis B virus infection. This enhanced metabolism, which persisted even after appearance of primary hepatocellular carcinoma in virus carriers, is likely to be ascribed to mechanisms other than DT diaphorase induction, such as glutathione depletion.