Neonatal imprinting and hepatic cytochrome P-450. II. Partial purification of a sex-dependent and neonatally imprinted form(s) of cytochrome P-450.

A new form of cytochrome P-450 was partially purified from hepatic microsomes of neonatally imprinted rats (adult male and adult male castrated at four weeks of age). This new form of cytochrome P-450 appears to have an apparent molecular weight of approximately 50,000 daltons as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It appears that this form of cytochrome P-450 is either absent or present in low concentrations in cytochrome P-450 preparations isolated from neonatally nonimprinted rats (adult female and adult male castrated at birth). Reconstitution of testosterone hydroxylase and benzphetamine N-demethylase activities of this partially purified cytochrome P-450 revealed that the presence of testosterone 16 alpha-hydroxylase activity, an imprintable microsomal enzyme, was in parallel with the imprinting status of the animals; a significantly higher activity was detected in the neonatally imprinted than that of the nonimprinted animals. This was in contrast to the nonimprintable benzphetamine N-demethylase, testosterone 7 alpha- and 6 beta-hydroxylase activities which exhibited no correlation with the imprinting status of the animals. We have prepared antisera from rabbits using the partially purified cytochrome P-450 preparations from adult male rats as antigens. These antisera inhibited microsomal testosterone 16 alpha- and 7 alpha-hydroxylase activities in a concentration-dependent manner, without impairing 6 beta-hydroxylase activity. These data suggest that the partially purified cytochrome P-450 from adult male rats consists of both imprintable (16 alpha-) and nonimprintable (7 alpha-) testosterone hydroxylase activities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)