Metabolic activation of olefins. Conversion of 1-octene to a putative reactive intermediate 1-octen-3-one: an alternative pathway to epoxidation.

The enzymic activation of a model olefin oct-1-ene was studied in rat liver microsomal systems in vitro. An active metabolite was trapped using N-acetylcysteine and identified by means of capillary GLC/mass spectrometry and 360 MHz 1H NMR as S-3-oxo-octyl-N-acetylcysteine. A two step pathway for the formation of this adduct was proposed involving first the production of oct-1-en-3-ol by NADPH dependent mixed function oxidases and secondly a NADP or NAD linked oxidation, independent of cytochrome P-450, to yield the putative reactive intermediate oct-1-en-3-one. Under physiological conditions, oct-1-en-3-one, prepared chemically, reacted non-enzymically with N-acetylcysteine with a t1/2 of about 6 sec. Enzymes catalysing the NADP-dependent oxidation of octen-3-ol were present in microsomal preparations from a number of organs apart from the liver, those from adrenal and intestinal epithelia showing the next highest levels of activity. Unlike the activation of octene, rates of hepatic activation of octen-3-ol were not induced by pretreatment of rats with phenobarbitone or 3-methylcholanthrene. Using 1-octene as the substrate, comparisons were made of alternative routes of hepatic metabolism activation. Relative to the rate of formation of the 3-oxo intermediate trapped with N-acetylcysteine, epoxidation of octene and subsequent hydrolysis to octane-1,2-diol was over 40 times more rapid. The rate of formation of a presumptive oxirane precursor trapped with the haem of cytochrome P-450 as N-(2-hydroxyoctyl)protoporphyrin IX was about 17-fold lower.