Reactivity of glutathione adducts of 4-(dimethylamino)phenol. Involvement of reactive oxygen species during the interaction with oxyhemoglobin.

Ferrihemoglobin formation by 4-(dimethylamino)phenol (DMAP), a potent cyanide antidote, is influenced by GSH under formation of various glutathione S-conjugates. Two of these were shown to be still reactive and able to produce ferrihemoglobin. The mechanism of ferrihemoglobin formation is fundamentally different from that found with the parent compound. First of all, induction periods of ferrihemoglobin formation were observed when 4-(dimethylamino)-2-(glutathion-S-yl)-phenol (2-GS-DMAP) and 4-(dimethylamino)-2,6-bis(glutathion-S-yl)phenol (2,6-bis-GS-DMAP) reacted with oxyhemoglobin at 100% and 20% oxygen, but not at 2% oxygen. This behavior points to thioether activation by autoxidation. Autoxidation proceeded in an autocatalytic manner, and the process was markedly modified by reducing agents, e.g., ferrihemoglobin and GSH, and by nucleophiles like GSH. Superoxide dismutase extended the lag phase of autoxidation and ferrihemoglobin formation. Catalase diminished markedly ferrihemoglobin formation, particularly at low oxygen pressure. The extent of this effect was much higher than expected if H2O2 had formed ferrihemoglobin directly. Conceivably, H2O2 might react with the thioethers or their oxidation products to give hitherto unidentified compounds of high catalytic activity in ferrihemoglobin formation. The results indicate that ferrihemoglobin formation by reactive glutathione conjugates of DMAP is essentially not a co-oxidation process as found with the parent DMAP and other aminophenols, but is mainly caused by an autocatalytic autoxidation process with formation of various reactive intermediates including superoxide radical anions and hydrogen peroxide. It appears that glutathione conjugation of autoxidizable aromatics does not necessarily lead to inactive phase II metabolites but opens new avenues of toxication reactions that may be a broader toxicological significance.