Stereoselectivity in glutathione conjugation and amidase-catalyzed hydrolysis of the 2-bromoisovalerylurea enantiomers in the single-pass perfused rat liver.

Stereoselective glutathione conjugation and amidase-catalyzed hydrolysis of [(R)- and (S)-]2-bromoisovalerylurea (BIU), yielding bromoisovaleric acid (BI) and urea, have been observed in the rat in vivo and in isolated rat hepatocytes. The metabolism of enantiomeric (R)- and (S)-BIU was presently examined in the single-pass perfused rat liver with varying input concentrations (8-250 microM). Steady-state hepatic extraction ratios for (R)-BIU (0.6) were constant and higher than those for (S)-BIU, whose extraction ratio decreased from 0.36 (8 microM) to 0.23 (236 microM). (R)- and (S)-BIU were excreted unchanged only minimally into bile. 14C-Urea-BIU underwent amidase-catalyzed hydrolysis to yield [14C]urea (15-24% of rate in) and conjugation to form the (S)-glutathionyl conjugate (31-35% of rate in); two metabolites, most likely the cysteinyl and dipeptide conjugates of BIU (10% of rate in), were found. 3H-Isovaleryl-BIU formed much less amidase-hydrolyzed product, [3H]BI (1-2% of rate in) less (R)-glutathionyl conjugate (9-18% of rate in), but appreciable amounts (14-17% of rate in) of three other metabolites, of which two were most likely the cysteinyl and glycinylcysteinyl conjugates of BIU. When the glutathione conjugation products (glutathione, cysteine and cysteinylglycine conjugates) were summed, the total glutathione conjugation rate for (R)-BIU (44% of rate in) exceeded that for (S)-BIU (34 to 24% of rate in). Fitting of data to the Michaelis-Menten equation revealed similar Km for glutathione conjugation, but a 2-fold higher Vmax for (R)-BIU.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)