Mitochondrial enzyme-catalyzed oxidation and reduction reactions of stilbene estrogen.

We have demonstrated for the first time that mitoplasts (i.e. mitochondria without outer membrane) were able to convert stilbene estrogen (diethylstilbestrol, DES) to reactive metabolites, which covalently bind to mitochondrial (mt)DNA. Depending on the cofactor used, mitochondrial enzymes catalyzed the oxidation and/or reduction of DES. DES was oxidized to DES quinone by peroxide-supported mitochondrial enzyme. A Lineweaver-Burk plot of rate of formation of DES quinone at various substrate concentrations yielded a Km of 33 microM and Vmax of 39 nmol/mg protein/min. The oxidation of DES to DES quinone by mitochondria was drastically decreased by known inhibitors of cytochrome P450. DES quinone was reduced to DES by mitoplasts in the presence of NADH. The Km and Vmax for the DES quinone reduction in the absence of mitoplasts and NADH were 3.2 microM and 5.6 nmol respectively. The reduction of DES quinone to DES by mitoplasts was significantly inhibited by inhibitors of cytochrome b5 reductase and diaphorase. DES quinone was also reduced to DES by pure diaphorase, a mitochondrial reducing enzyme, in the presence of NADH. The Km and Vmax for the DES quinone reduction by diaphorase were 9.0 microM and 4.3 nmol respectively. Under reaction conditions similar to oxidation of DES to DES quinone by mitoplasts, it was observed that mitochondrial metabolic products of DES were able to covalently bind to mtDNA. These data provide direct evidence of mitochondrial enzyme-catalyzed oxidation and reduction reactions of DES. In the cell, activation of DES in the mitochondria (the organelle in which mtDNA synthesis, mtDNA repair and transcription systems are localized) is of utmost importance, because an analogous in vivo mitochondrial metabolism of DES through covalent modifications in mitochondrial genome may produce instability in the mitochondrial genome of the cells. These modifications may in turn play a role in the development of DES-induced hepatocarcinogenicity.