Oxidative and conjugative metabolism of xenobiotics by livers of cattle, sheep, swine and rats.

Homogenate preparations from fresh livers of cattle, sheep, swine and rats were assayed for microsomal cytochrome P-450 content, for mixed-function oxidase activities and for a wide array of conjugative activities using numerous xenobiotic substrates. Results show that hepatic enzymatic capabilities toward xenobiotics do not parallel phylogenetic classifications, thus strengthening the view that most of the comparative data available at present is more descriptive than predictive of relationships among species. Livestock species differed widely from rats in having lower activities of benzo(alpha)pyrene hydroxylase, glutathione S-transferase and acetyltransferase toward isoniazid and sulfamethazine and UDP-glucuronosyl-transferase toward bilirubin. Acetyltransferase activities toward beta-naphthylamine and 2-aminofluorene were not detected in livers of livestock species studied. Cattle livers were remarkably high in activities of styrene oxide hydrolase, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase, 2-naphthol sulfotransferase and p-aminobenzoic acid acetyltransferase; but notably low in activity of glutathione-S-transferase toward sulfobromophthalein and 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene. Swine livers had low activity of glutathione-S-transferase toward four of six substrates and low acetyltransferase activity toward four of five substrates. Sheep livers generally were higher than cattle livers in sulfo- and UDP-glucuronsyltransferase activities and lower in acetyl- and glutathionyl-S-transferase. Findings emphasize the risk of error in extra-polations among species and in extrapolations among substrates.