Comparison of the induction of hepatic peroxisome proliferation by the herbicide oxadiazon in vivo in rats, mice, and dogs and in vitro in rat and human hepatocytes.

Oxadiazon [5-ter-butyl-3-(2,4-dichloro-5-isopropoxyphenyl)- 1,3,4-oxadiazol-2(3H)-one] was administered orally at 20-500 mg/ kg body wt/day to male Sprague-Dawley CD rats for 14 days, at 20-200 mg/kg body wt/day to male CD1 [CR1/CD-1(1GR)BR] mice for 28 days, and at 500 mg/kg body wt/day to male beagle dogs for 28 days. Although liver enlargement was observed in the three species, morphological studies indicated that peroxisome proliferation only occurred in rats and mice. Parallel biochemical investigations showed that there was a dose-dependent increase in the peroxisomal cyanide-insensitive palmitoyl CoA oxidase and acetyl carnitine transferase activities in treated rats and mice. Acetyl carnitine activity appeared to correlate well with the number and volume of peroxisomes as determined histologically. The increases in enzyme activities at 200 mg/kg body wt/day oxadiazon were comparable in rats and mice indicating that both rodent species were equally sensitive to oxadiazon-induced peroxisome proliferation. When added in vitro to cultured rat hepatocytes at concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 10 x 10(-5) M, oxadiazon induced a dose-dependent increase in the activities of palmitoyl CoA oxidase and acetyl carnitine transferase. The ratio obtained by comparing oxadiazon and clofibric acid on acetyl carnitine transferase activity at 5 x 10(-5) M in the present in vitro study on rat hepatocytes are equivalent to those that can be calculated from the results on this enzyme activity obtained in vivo in the rat with 500 mg/ kg body wt/day oxadiazon (this study) and clofibric acid (literature values), indicating that the rat hepatocyte cultures gave satisfactory results regarding peroxisome proliferation. Neither oxadiazon nor clofibric acid modified the activities of palmitoyl CoA oxidase and acetyl carnitine transferase in cultured human hepatocytes. The results presented here demonstrate clearly that oxadiazon induces peroxisome proliferation in rodents in vivo and in vitro, as determined both biochemically and morphologically, whereas dogs in vivo and human hepatocytes in vitro were refractory to peroxisome proliferation. This observation extends to the herbicide oxadiazon, which is structurally unrelated to other known peroxisome proliferators, the generally observed marked species difference in sensitivity to peroxisome proliferation, and has important implications in the human safety evaluation of this herbicide.