Comparative in vitro metabolism and activation of benzo(a)pyrene from two species of catfish

Cytochrome P4501A activity as measured by hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase EROD in isolated microsomes is consistently found to be 10 to 20 fold higher in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctuatus) than in a closely related species of catfish, the brown bullhead (Ameriurus nebulosus). To measure more directly the ability of these two species to activate a model PAH, microsomes and hepatocytes isolated from naphthoflavone induced channel catfish (CC) and brown bullhead (BB) were incubated with [{sup 3}H]- or [{sup 14}C]benzo(a)pyrene (BP) to compare metabolite formation and binding to DNA and protein. Microsomes from channel catfish produce 4-fold higher levels of BP metabolites (hexane non-extractable) than brown bullhead (253.0, 9.0 vs 58.8, 14.9 pmole/mg, protein/min). Binding of microsome activated BP to salmon sperm DNA demonstrated a similar 5-fold difference between the two species. Using isolated hepatocytes, the two species demonstrated less pronounced, but consistent differences in metabolite formation (29.85, 2.2 vs 20.1, 0.96 pmole/10{sup 6}, cells/min, CC vs BB), DNA binding and total protein binding (13.2, 2.53 vs 10.57, 1.72 pmole BP/mg, protein/min, CC vs BB). Surprisingly, these preliminary data suggest that induced CC liver activate a model PAH carcinogen more quickly and produce higher levels of stable adducts than a cancer prone speciesmore » (brown bullhead). Other aspects of BP activation, detoxification and genotoxicity in these two species may contribute to species` susceptibility to carcinogenesis.« less