Urinary metabolites of 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea and 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-(trans-4-methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea.

Urinary metabolites of ring 14C-labeled 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea (CCNU) and 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-(trans-4-methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea (Methyl CCNU) from rats have been isolated and characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. About 44% of the cyclohexyl moiety of CCNU was excreted in 24 hr and included approximately 10% of the excreted dose as free amines and 40% as conjugates that could be converted to amines by hydrolysis. Amine composition of free base plus hydrolyzable conjugates was 55% hydroxycyclohexylamines (3-trans, 3-cis, 4-cis, and 4-trans) and 30% cyclohexylamine. This strongly supports previous studies which indicated that CCNU is largely hydroxylated in vivo as well as in vitro. Rats pretreated with phenobarbital excreted high relative amounts of cis-4-hydroxy derivatives (41%), again showing a high degree of correlation between in vitro and in vivo results. Treatment of urine with beta-glucuronidase gave no apparent increase in free amines. However, sulfatase was about 25% as effective as alkaline hydrolysis for releasing free amines from whole urine. Major urinary metabolites were found to have m.w. of about 629, 413, 329, and 243 and represented 55%, 20%, 20%, and 5% of total excreted 14C, respectively. It was concluded that the higher m.w. metabolites may be conjugates of peptides possibly derived from active site-directed inactivation of specific enzymes. Previous work has shown that enzymes such as chymotrypsin and glutathione reductase are inhibited by isocyanates in this manner. Hydroxylated metabolites of Methyl CCNU had a pattern similar to that of CCNU. The major free (12%) and conjugated amine (54%) metabolites of Methyl CCNU in the urine in decreasing order of quantity present were cis-3-hydroxy-trans-4-methylcyclohexylamine, trans-4-methylcyclohexylamine, trans-4-hydroxymethylcyclohexylamine, and trans-3-hydroxy-trans-4-methyl-cyclohexylamine.