Biotransformation enzymes in nasal mucosa and liver of Sprague-Dawley rats.

The metabolism of hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA), aminopyrine, ethoxycoumarin, ethoxyresorufin, and pentoxyresorufin, by the monooxygenase cytochrome P-450-dependent system, was studied in microsomes from nasal epithelial membranes and liver tissue of Sprague-Dawley rats. Nasal metabolism rates for the different substrates ranged from 9% of liver values for aminopyrine to 83% for ethoxycoumarin. HMPA-demethylase activity followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics in nasal mucosa microsomes but was biphasic in those from liver. SKF 525A, metyrapone, dioxolane and alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF), inhibitors of various P-450 monoxygenases, were examined with regard to inhibition of nasal and liver ethoxycoumarin deethylase. In addition, activity of epoxide hydrolase, glutathione S-transferase, DT-diaphorase and UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UDP-GT) in nasal tissue homogenates were investigated. These activities were generally lower than those present in the liver. Various attempts to increase the activity of oxidative enzymes in nasal tissue by PB, 3-MC and ethanol failed, 3-MC and PB doubled the microsomal UDP-GT and the epoxide hydrolase activities. The results together with data from the literature suggest that the balance between P-450 isozymes and detoxifying enzymes differs in the nose compared with the liver. The activities of these enzymes in nasal tissue of different strains of rats also varies substantially with implications regarding the metabolic fate and activation of inhaled xenobiotics.