Effect of nitrous oxide and methionine treatments on hepatic S-adenosylmethionine and methylation reactions in the rat.

Nitrous oxide administration to experimental animals leads to significant alterations in the hepatic folate pathway. This pathway is closely linked to the metabolism of methionine and S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet), two compounds that play a central role in biologically important methylation reactions. This study was carried out to assess whether nitrous oxide administration to animals can affect the metabolism of AdoMet and the AdoMet-dependent methylation reactions. Exposure of rats to a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen (50:50) for 2 hr reduced hepatic AdoMet levels. However, when methionine was administered to these rats, hepatic AdoMet rapidly increased to levels that were significantly higher than those observed in air-exposed animals. Concomitant with this increase, there was a significant and marked increase in the rate of methylation of phospholipids and carboxymethylation of proteins. Thus, nitrous oxide, in addition to its inhibitory effect on 5-methyltetrahydrofolate:homocysteine methyltransferase (methionine synthase, EC 2.1.1.13) activity, possesses another effect. It increases the rate of conversion of exogenously administered methionine into AdoMet with a subsequent increase in the rate of methylation of key cellular constituents.