Nitrite binding to cytochrome P-450 from liver microsomes of trout (Salmo gairdneri Rich.) and effects on two microsomal enzymes.

Addition of nitrite to dithionite-reduced trout liver microsomes leads to the conversion of cytochrome P-450 into a cytochrome P-420-NO complex, as it does in mammalian microsomes. A loss in cytochrome P-450 and an inhibition of aminopyrine demethylase (AP) activity were observed in vitro at nitrite-concentrations found in the liver of trout exposed in vivo to this toxin. Nitrite had no effect on dimethylaniline monooxygenase (DMA), a cytochrome P-450-independent enzyme.