Flavonoids Reduce Lipid Peroxides and Increase Glutathione Levels in Pooled Human Liver Microsomes (HLMs)

The effects of each of the flavonoids;genistein (G), quercetin (Q) and kaempferol (K) at several doses on lipid peroxides (LP) and reduced glutathione (GSH) in pooled human liver microsomes (HLMs) were investigated following the oxidative damage for 4, 6, 18 and 24 hr. HLMs (1 mg/ml) were exposed to each of the above flavonoids at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 μM and incubated for the respective times as previously stated. Our hypothesis was that HLMs exposed to the flavonoids for the respective exposure times can decrease LP and increase GSH in HLMs to better cope with the oxidative stress. The results of our studies indicate that each of the flavonoids significantly (p < 0.01) decreased LP compared to their respective controls. The highest decrease in LP was observed for K followed by Q and G. Significant increases (p < 0.01) in GSH were observed for the flavonoid doses tested with the highest levels observed for Q for the 24-hr. incubation. The findings suggest that the flavonoids modulate oxidative stress in HLMs by decreasing LP and such decreases in LPs may be due to the increasing and or the replenished levels of GSH in the said cells to better cope with the oxidative stress.

Inhibition of Cytochrome P450 by Nomilin and Obacunone and Potential Mechanism in Human Liver Microsomes

Objective Nomilin and obacunone are two important limonoids that are well known for their anticancer effect. Previous studies showed that limonoids had inhibitory effect on cytochrome P450 3A4（CYP3A4）. However these effects are inconclusive with regards to prediction of potential drug interactions. Methods Nomilin or obacunone was pre-incubated with HLMs for 30 min. Following 10-fold dilution from the pre-incubation concentration, a second incubation was performed in the presence of NADPH and cytochrome P450 substrates for 15 min. The reaction was quenched and the supernatants were analyzed by chromatography/mass spectrometry. Results In this study, nomilin and obacunone showed potent inhibitory effect on CYP3A4 with the IC_（50） values of 3.50 and 6.08 μmol/L, respectively. The inhibition of CYP3A4 was in a time-, concentration-and NADPH-dependent manner with Ki values of 2.92 and 1.25 μmol/L and Kinact values of 0.033 and 0.078 min^（-1） for nomilin and obacunone respectively. These results elucidated that they were time-dependent inhibitors for CYP3A4. Conclusion Concomitant use of limonoids and other drugs may call for extra caution for purposes of clinical safety.

In vitro Metabolism of Strychnine by Human Cytochrome P450 and Its Interaction with Glycyrrhetic Acid

Objective To investigate the metabolism of strychnine(STN)and the metabolic interaction between STN and glycyrrhetic acid(GA)in vitro.Methods Human liver microsomes(HLM)and human recombinant cytochrome P450(CYP)isoforms were employed to study the metabolism of STN and the metabolic interaction of STN with GA in vitro.Results In HLM,the Km,Vmax,and clearance of STN were 88.50μmol/L,0.88 nmol/(mg·min),and 9.93 mL/(mg·min),respectively.STN was metabolized mainly by CYP3A4.However,STN noncompetitively inhibited CYP3A4-catalyzed testosterone 6β-hydroxylation with IC50 value of 5.9μmol/L and Ki value of 5.5 μmol/L.Moreover,GA competitively inhibited STN metabolism with IC50 value of 10.6μmol/L and Ki value of 17.7μmol/L.Conclusion Although STN is mainly metabolized by CYP3A4 in vitro,STN has noncompetitive inhibition on CYP3A4-catalyzed testosterone 6β-hydroxylation.Moreover,GA could competitively inhibit STN metabolism.The present work is helpful to elucidate the metabolic interaction between STN and GA.

Identification of human cytochrome P450 and UGT enzymes involved in the metabolism of ferulic acid, a major bioactive component in traditional Chinese medicines

Ferulic acid(FA) is an active component of herbal medicines. One of the best documented activities of FA is its antioxidant property. Moreover, FA exerts antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective effects. However, the metabolic pathways of FA in humans remain unclear. To identify whether human CYP or UGT enzymes are involved in the metabolism of FA, reaction phenotyping of FA was conducted using major CYP-selective chemical inhibitors together with individual CYP and UGT Supersomes. The CYPand/or UGT-mediated metabolism kinetics were examined simultaneously or individually. Relative activity factor and total normalized rate approaches were used to assess the relative contributions of each major human CYPs towards the FA metabolism. Incubations of FA with human liver microsomes(HLM) displayed NADPH-and UDPGA-dependent metabolism with multiple CYP and UGT isoforms involved. CYPs and UGTs contributed equally to the metabolism of FA in HLM. Although CYP1 A2 and CYP3 A4 appeared to be the major contributors in the CYP-mediated clearance, their contributions to the overall clearance are still minor(< 25%). As a constitute of many food and herbs, FA poses low drug-drug interaction risk when co-administrated with other herbs or conventional medicines because multiple phase I and phase II enzymes are involved in its metabolism.

In vitro metabolism and inhibitory effects of atractylenolideⅡon various hepatic CYPs in HLMs

In the present study,we aimed to investigate the interaction between atractylenolideⅡ(AT-Ⅱ)and CYP450 enzyme in human liver microsomes,and to lay a theoretical foundation for predicting the possible interaction of AT-Ⅱin combination with drugs.The chemical inhibition experiment was carried out with specific inhibitors to clarify the CYP450 subtypes affecting the metabolism of AT-Ⅱ,and the mechanism,kinetics,and type of inhibition of CYP450 enzyme by AT-Ⅱwere studied by using the probe-based determination method of human liver microsome system with the related data of IC50 and Ki as evaluation indexes.The metabolism of AT-Ⅱwas affected by CYP1A2,CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 inhibitors,and the highest inhibition rates were41.35%,41.97%and 82.45%,respectively.The IC50 values of AT-Ⅱto five subtypes of P450 CYP2C9,CYP1A2,CYP2C19,CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 were 69.7,84.3,92.4,173.8 and 190.1μmol/L,respectively.The Ki values of AT-Ⅱto five subtypes of P450 CYP2C9,CYP1A2,CYP2C19,CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 were 190.6,179.1,>200,72.2 and 66.8,respectively.Among these enzymes,AT-Ⅱexhibited non-competitive inhibition on CYP1A2,showed competitive inhibition on CYP2C9 and CYP3A4,and displayed mixed AT-Ⅱinhibition on CYP2C19 and CYP2D6.CYP1A2,CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 were involved in the AT-Ⅱmetabolism,and AT-Ⅱexhibited different inhibitory mechanisms and strengths for the five subtypes of CYP450.

A rapid and simple ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS) method for the detection of glucuronic acid-conjugated steroid metabolites

In the present study, we effectively detected 10 steroids and glucuronic acid-conjugated steroid metabolites in 12 min by ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry （UPLC-MS/MS）. Steroids testosterone （T）, 5ct-dihydrotestosterone （DHT）, androsterone （ADT）, etiocholanolone （ETIO）, estradiol （E2） and their glucuronide conjugates were well-separated on an Eclipse Plus C18 column （2.1 mm×50 ram, RRHD 1.8μm）. The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of methanol and ultrapure water （containing I mM ammonium formate） at a ratio of 60：40 （v/v）, and the flow rate was set at 0.25 mL/min. The LC eluate was detected by electrospray ionization （ESI） source in both positive and negative ion modes. Neutral loss （NL of 176, 194, 211 and 229 Da in positive mode） and precursor ion （PI ofm/z 141,159 and 177 in positive mode and 75, 85 and 133 in negative mode） methods were applied for the detection of steroid glucuronides. The multiple reaction monitoring （MRM） transitions were m/z 289.3→97.1,291.3→105, 291.3→199.2, 273.2→145.4 and 255.2→159.1 for T, DHT, ADT, ETIO and E2 in positive mode, respectively; as well as m/z 463.3→85 for T glucuronide （T-G）, m/z 465.3→75 for DHT glucuronide （DHT-G）, ADT glucuronide （ADT-G）, ETIO glucuronide （ETIO-G） and m/z 447.3→271 for E2 glucuronide （Ez-G） in negative mode. In addition, the analytical method was also applied for the detection of steroid glucuronides in pooled human liver microsomes （HLM）, which might serve as a basis for further investigation of steroid metabolism in vivo and in vitro.