P-chlorophenylalanine does not inhibit production of recombinant human phenylalanine hydroxylase in NIH3T3 cells or E. coli.

P-chlorophenylalanine is an irreversible inhibitor of rat phenylalanine hydroxylase in vivo and in rat hepatoma cells and is frequently administered to rodents to create an animal model for phenylketonuria. We investigated the effect of p-chlorophenylalanine on production of human phenylalanine hydroxylase in human hepatoma cells and cells transformed with the recombinant human phenylalanine hydroxylase gene. P-chlorophenylalanine inhibited production of the human enzyme in human hepatoma cells and transformed mouse hepatoma cells but had no effect on the production of the enzyme in transformed NIH3T3 cells or in E. coli. Thus, phenylalanine hydroxylase inhibition does not result from a simple interaction between the drug and enzyme.