Increase of a form of UDP-glucuronyltransferase glucuronizing various phenolic xenobiotics and the corresponding translatable mRNA in 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rat liver.

Induction of hepatic microsomal UDP-glucuronyltransferase activity toward various phenolic xenobiotics by 3-methylcholanthrene treatment of rats was observed, and the process of the induction was studied. We had previously purified a form of UDP-glucuronyltransferase (called GT-1) having a catalytic activity toward phenolic xenobiotics from liver microsomes of 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rats. The antibodies against GT-1 inhibited the enzyme activity toward those xenobiotics in liver microsomes, and bound to a single protein having a molecular weight of about 54,000 Da (same value as that of GT-1) among microsomal proteins on immunoblotting analysis. The amount of GT-1 protein in hepatic microsomes was found to be increased in close correspondence with the activity increase by 3-methylcholanthrene treatment, by immunoblotting analysis using an uninducible cytochrome P-450 reductase as a negative standard. It was shown by in vitro translation assays that the protein increase described above resulted from the enhancement of the level of translatable mRNA encoding for GT-1. Increases in the amount of the protein immunochemically corresponding to GT-1 in the microsomes from liver of phenobarbital-treated rats and from extrahepatic organs, such as kidney, small intestine, and lung, of phenobarbital- or 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rats were also observed.