Monogenic control of variations in antipyrine metabolite formation. New polymorphism of hepatic drug oxidation.

To investigate mechanisms that control large variations among normal uninduced subjects in the elimination of the model compound antipyrine (AP) and other drugs, AP was administered to 144 subjects (83 unrelated adults and 61 members of 13 families). Thereafter, at regular intervals for 72 h, the urine of each subject was collected and concentrations of AP and its three main metabolites measured. From these urinary concentrations, rate constants for formation of each AP metabolite were calculated. Trimodal curves were observed when values for each AP rate constant were plotted in 83 unrelated subjects; probit plots of these values showed inflections at the two antimodes of each trimodal distribution. All members of our 13 families were assigned one of three phenotypes determined by where their AP metabolite rate constant placed them in the trimodal distributions derived from the 83 unrelated subjects. In each family, pedigree analysis to identify the mode of transmission of these three phenotypes was consistent with their monogenic control. These results provide evidence for a new polymorphism of drug oxidation in man.