Evidence for several demethylase enzymes in the oxidation of dimethylnitrosamine and phenylmethylnitrosamine by rat liver fractions.

The steady state kinetics and isotope effects were examined for demethylation of dimethylnitrosamine and phenylmethylnitrosamine, as well as their deuterated analogs, using the S-9 fraction, the microsomal pellet, and postmicrosomal supernatant from rat livers. The isotope effect (ratio of maximal rates for the deuterated and light substrates) using the S-9 from Long-Evans rat livers was found to be 1.82 for dimethylnitrosamine and 5.38 for phenylmethylnitrosamine. Phenobarbital was shown to induce dimethylnitrosamine demethylase activity in the microsomal pellet of both Long-Evans and Sprague-Dawley rats but to repress this activity in the postmicrosomal supernatant in the Long-Evans rats, while markedly increasing it in the Sprague-Dawley rats. It was also found that there was nitrosamine demethylase activity in the so-called "pH 5 enzymes" and in the supernatant from that preparation. The latter activity shows substantially different characteristics from that found in the other fractions.