PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

K G Eckert

Publications and source records attributed to K G Eckert.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Activation and detoxication of aminophenols. II. Synthesis and structural elucidation of various thiol addition products of 1,4-benzoquinoneimine and N-acetyl-1,4-benzoquinoneimine.

1. Nine thioethers of 4-aminophenol with beta-hydroxyethylmercaptan, ranging from mono- to tetra-substituted thioadducts, were prepared from synthetic 1,4-benzoquinoneimine and characterized by 1H-n.m.r. and u.v. spectroscopy. For each compound, extinction coefficients and pKa values of the amino group were determined. 2. Five thioethers of 4-aminophenol with glutathione (GSH) were prepared and characterized by 1H-n.m.r. and u.v. spectroscopy with their respective extinction coefficients and pKa values. Two further thioadducts were tentatively assigned by their u.v. spectroscopic properties. 3. Reaction products of 1,4-[U-14C]benzoquinoneimine and GSH were studied, indicating formation of 4-amino-2-(glutathione-S-yl)phenol, 4-amino-2,3,6-tris(glutathione-S-yl)phenol as the main products. Formation of glutathione disulphide (GSSG) was not detected. In contrast, N-acetyl-1,4-[U-14C]benzoquinoneimine was partly reduced by GSH and formed only the 2-substituted thioadduct. 4. Investigation of the product orientation in the reductive addition of GSH to 2-(glutathione-S-yl)-1,4-benzoquinoneimine and 3-(glutathione-S-yl)-1,4-benzoquinoneimine, respectively, showed that the 3-substituted derivative formed mainly the 3,5-di-substituted thioadduct, whereas the 2-substituted compound formed mainly the 2,3,6-tri-substituted thioadduct. 5. Formation of thioadducts which autoxidize markedly faster than the parent aminophenol indicates that thioether formation is not an obligatory detoxication process.

Aminophenols

Activation and detoxication of aminophenols. III. Synthesis and structural elucidation of various glutathione addition products to 1,4-benzoquinone.

1. Four thioethers of 1,4-hydroquinone with glutathione (GSH) were prepared from 1,4-benzoquinone and characterized by 1H-n.m.r. and partly by 13C-n.m.r. spectroscopy. The structures of three additional thioethers were tentatively assigned by u.v. spectroscopy. 2. The corresponding thioethers of 1,4-benzoquinone with GSH were obtained by oxidation of the corresponding 1,4-hydroquinone thioadducts with PbO2 or potassium ferricyanide. 3. Relative redox potentials of the hydroquinone/benzoquinone thioethers were estimated by determination of their redox equilibria with benzoquinone/hydroquinone. The redox potential of the mono-substituted derivative was 30 mV lower, and that of the di-substituted derivatives 70 mV lower, than that of the unsubstituted couple, thus explaining the readiness of sequential oxidation and addition reactions of the produced thioethers. 4. By use of 1,4-[U-14C]benzoquinone the reaction products with GSH were quantified to elucidate the product orientation. As observed with 1,4-benzoquinoneimine and its thioethers, formation of GSSG was not detected at physiological pH. 5. The high susceptibility of particular thioethers of 1,4-hydroquinone towards (aut)oxidation characterizes these products as reactive intermediates rather than as definitive detoxication products.

Aminophenols

Depletion of mitochondrial coenzyme A and glutathione by 4-dimethylaminophenol and formation of mixed thioethers.

4-Dimethylaminophenol (DMAP), an antidote in cyanide poisoning, has been shown to produce kidney lesions in rats, to damage isolated rat kidney tubules and to impair mitochondrial functions as already described for 4-aminophenol. Since DMAP upon oxidation forms bis- and tris-substituted thioethers with GSH, it was anticipated that mitochondrial toxicity of DMAP might result from CoA depletion. In a model reaction DMAP was oxidized by oxyhemoglobin in the presence of CoA and GSH resulting in formation of tris-(CoA-S-yl)-DMAP, tris-(GSH-S-yl)-DMAP and two mixed thioethers, namely, (CoA-S-yl)-bis-(GSH-S-yl)-DMAP and (GSH-S-yl)-bis-(CoA-S-yl)-DMAP. The compounds were isolated by HPLC and identified spectroscopically, by amino acid analysis and Raney-Nickel desulfuration. Rat liver mitochondria (5 mg protein/ml) incubated under state IV conditions with 20 and 50 microM DMAP were depleted of GSH and total coenzyme A with formation of GSSG and the above-mentioned thioethers which were quantified by isotope dilution techniques using [14C]-labelled DMAP and the isolated, inactive thioethers. The results confirm earlier suggestions that part of the cytotoxicity of DMAP may result from depletion of vital mitochondrial thiols, particularly CoA. Since 4-aminophenol reacts analogously, similar cytotoxic effects can be expected from compounds which on (aut)oxidation form quinoid systems capable of 1.4-addition reactions with nucleophilic thiols.

Aminophenols

Promotion of cystine uptake and its utilization for glutathione biosynthesis induced by cysteamine and N-acetylcysteine.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells obtain a high capacity to utilize cystine from the growth medium by exposure to cysteamine (2-mercaptoethylamine, MEA) or N-acetylcysteine (NAC). For uptake studies a modified McCoy's 5A medium supplemented with 0.1 mM [35S]cystine was used. The uptake of cystine was dependent on the time of exposure (0-60 min) and the concentrations of MEA or NAC (0-8 mM). At high concentrations of MEA or NAC, the uptake of cystine became saturated. Half-maximal uptake of cysteine was observed at concentrations of 0.12 mM MEA and 0.66 mM NAC, respectively. Increase in temperature (37-44 degrees) or pH (6.0-8.0) during MEA or NAC exposure further increased the cystine uptake. The increased uptake of cystine was not affected in the presence of glutamate or homocysteate which both inhibited the cystine uptake of control cells. Determination of both reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) cellular glutathione showed a twofold increase in MEA- or NAC-treated CHO cells. DL-buthionine-S,R-sulfoximine (BSO), an inhibitor of GSH biosynthesis completely blocked the promotion of cystine uptake by MEA and NAC. By further analysis using reversed-phase HPLC of cell extracts, more than 90% of the [35S] radioactive cystine taken up by the cells could be recovered within the pool of GSH. The results demonstrate that exposure of CHO cells with MEA and NAC leads to a promoted uptake of cystine from the culture medium and its rapid utilization for cellular GSH biosynthesis.

Acetylcysteine

The metabolism of aminophenols in erythrocytes.

1. Like 2- and 4-dimethylaminophenol, 4-aminophenol in the presence of oxyhaemoglobin forms numerous adducts with glutathione (GSH). Using 14C-4-aminophenol and 3H-glutathione, ten different thioethers were isolated, by h.p.l.c., with isotope ratios of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, respectively. The structural identification of the different thioethers is under current investigation. 2. In erythrocytes of human and dog, and in dog blood, in vivo, the same pattern of 4-aminophenol conjugates with GSH was found. 3. In vivo, 5% of administered 4-aminophenol is converted into thioethers within erythrocytes, accompanied by a 60% decrease in the cellular GSH, indicating the role of erythrocytes in the biotransformation of xenobiotics.

Aminophenols

Formation and transport of xenobiotic glutathione-S-conjugates in red cells.

In vitro studies with freshly drawn human erythrocytes showed 4-dimethylaminophenol, a cyanide antidote, to be rapidly metabolized with the formation of a transient S,S-(2-dimethylamino-5-hydroxy-1,3-phenylene)bis-glutathione conjugate and a stable S,S,S-(2-dimethylamino-5-hydroxy-1,3,4-phenylene)tris-glutathione conjugate. The stable tri-glutathionyl derivative was actively transported across the red cell membrane with an apparent Vmax = 1 nmol/min/ml red cell suspension (15 g hemoglobin/100 ml) and Km = 0.5 mM. The transport system was strictly unidirectional, inhibited completely by sodium fluoride and reduced to one-fifth by lowering the temperature from 37 to 22 degrees. Similarly S-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-glutathione, the glutathione-S-transferase mediated glutathione-S-conjugate with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, was unidirectionally transported, a process which was inhibited by sodium fluoride. Kinetic analysis revealed two different transport processes: Vmax = 0.9 nmol/min/ml, Km = 1.4 microM and Vmax = 4.5 nmol/min/ml, Km = 700 microM. Mutual inhibition of the low affinity transport system was found for both glutathione-S-conjugates. The apparent energies of activation for all these transport processes and for GSSG were identical (70 kJ/mol) suggesting at least one common carrier for the excretion of the three glutathione-S-conjugates.

Aminophenols