Sex-dependent activities of quinone reductases in rabbits indicate higher risk of bladder cancer in the male.

The distribution of NADPH-dependent quinone reductase and NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase activities was determined in the urinary bladders of male and female rabbits. In urinary bladder transitional epithelium (UBTE) and in urinary bladder non-transitional tissue (UBNT) microsomal quinone reductases demonstrated significant (P less than 0.05) sex-dependent differences in the case of both dicoumarol-insensitive (male greater than female) and dicoumarol-sensitive or DT-diaphorase (female greater than male) activities. Microsomal NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase activities in UBTE and in UBNT were found to be similar in male and female rabbits. The activities of microsomal and cytosolic quinone reductases and the activity of microsomal NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase in UBNT were much lower than those in UBTE. NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase and similar flavo-enzymes activate quinones via one-electron reduction into semiquinone free radicals, which then react with molecular oxygen, forming superoxide anions. DT-diaphorase acts as a detoxifying enzyme by converting many quinones via a unique two-electron reduction into less reactive hydroquinones, enabling their excretion as water-soluble conjugates. Since UBTE contains substantial activities of prostaglandin H synthase (PHS) and NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, unlike UBNT, the toxicity and carcinogenicity of xenobiotics which are either quinones or form quinones in situ through the mediation of PHS would be high in UBTE. The risk of carcinogenicity of quinones in UBTE would be higher in male rabbits than in female rabbits due to sex-dependent differences in the relative proportions of the one-electron reduction pathway, represented by NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, and the two-electron reduction pathway, represented by DT-diaphorase (female greater than male).