Stimulatory effect of anesthetics on dechlorination of carbon tetrachloride in guinea-pig liver microsomes.

Effects of the anesthetics isoflurane, enflurane, halothane and sevoflurane on the dechlorination of carbon tetrachloride to produce chloroform were investigated using guinea pig liver microsomes. Under anaerobic conditions, chloroform is produced from carbon tetrachloride by the microsomes in the presence of NADPH, and chloroform production from 86 microM carbon tetrachloride was enhanced to 146%, 133%, 123% and 115% by the addition of isoflurane, enflurane, halothane and sevoflurane, respectively. The half-life of oxidized cytochrome P450 which remained during the reduction by the addition of NADPH was shortened to 51%, 54%, 60% and 80% by isoflurane, enflurane, halothane and sevoflurane, respectively, without alteration of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity. These anesthetics hastened the onset of the 445 nm absorption band formation which was shown by microsomes with carbon tetrachloride in the presence of NADPH under anaerobic conditions. These results indicate that the anesthetics isoflurane, enflurane, sevoflurane and halothane stimulate the reduction of cytochrome P450 results in the acceleration of the carbon tetrachloride dechlorination. These results may have implications for other type II drugs that are administered during anesthesia.