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Ochratoxin A is a nephrotoxic and tumorigenic mycotoxin which contaminates a variety of food items, resulting in chronic human exposure. Biotransformation reactions have been implicated in the tumorigenicity of ochratoxin A. The biotransformation of ochratoxin A by cytochromes P450 and other mammalian enzymes was investigated to optimize conditions for bacterial mutagenicity testing. Metabolite formation was assessed by HPLC with UV and fluorescence detection and by LC/MS/MS. When ochratoxin A was incubated with liver microsomes from rats and mice, formation of 4R- and 4S-hydroxyochratoxin A was observed at very low rates. However, oxidation of ochratoxin A was not observed using kidney microsomes from rats and mice. Significantly higher rates of oxidation were seen in liver microsomes from rats pretreated with 3-methylcholanthrene and dexamethasone. Other reported or postulated that ochratoxin A-metabolites were not formed in detectable concentrations. Human cytochromes P450 (3A4, 1A2, and 2C9-1 Supersomes((R))) also showed very low activity with ochratoxin A (<60 fmole/min x pmol P450). Other enzyme systems used to study possible biotransformation of ochratoxin A were rat and human liver and kidney S-9 fortified with NADPH and glutathione, semipurified glutathione S-transferases, horseradish peroxidase, and soybean lipoxygenase; none of these resulted in detectable biotransformation of ochratoxin A. Using rat liver microsomes with high activity for ochratoxin A oxidation and the other enzyme systems to activate ochratoxin A for mutagenicity testing in the Ames test, mutagenicity was not observed in Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 and TA 2638. The obtained results suggest that oxidative biotransformation of ochratoxin A occurs at low rates, is catalyzed by cytochromes P450, and is unlikely to form reactive intermediates capable of binding to DNA.

Troglitazone, a thiazolidinedione (TZD) type insulin sensitizer for the treatment of diabetes, was withdrawn from the U.S. market after several fatal cases of hepatotoxicity. Although the mechanism(s) of these idiosyncratic adverse reactions are not completely understood, circumstantial evidence suggests at least a partial contribution of reactive metabolite formation. Despite isolated case reports of hepatotoxicity, the other TZD derivatives pioglitazone and rosiglitazone are comparatively safe. Herein, we report on the bioactivation potential of these drugs and their TZD ring isotope-labeled 2-(15)N-3,4,5-(13)C(3) analogues in rat and human liver microsomes supplemented with glutathione (GSH). Screening for GSH adducts as surrogate markers for reactive intermediate formation was performed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Chemical characterization of the GSH conjugates was conducted by acquisition of their respective product ion spectra and the comparison between unlabeled and stable isotope-labeled TZD derivatives. The data suggest that all drugs undergo bioactivation processes via a common metabolic activation on the TZD ring, yielding disulfide type GSH conjugates as evidenced by the loss of labeled positions in the TZD moiety. Additional bioactivation processes leading to GSH adducts not involving TZD ring scission were evident for troglitazone. In human liver microsomes at low substrate concentrations, only troglitazone yielded a predominant GSH adduct not involving TZD ring scission. This property may contribute, together with other factors such as the relatively high dose administered as well as its potential to induce hepatic cholestasis and oxidative stress, to the hepatotoxicity of this drug.

A sensitive and specific liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method based on the combination of constant neutral loss scans (CNL) with product ion scans was developed on a linear ion trap. The method is applicable for the detection and identification of analytes with identical chemical substructures (such as conjugates of xenobiotics formed in biological systems) which give common CNLs. A specific CNL was observed for thioethers of N-acetyl-L-cysteine (mercapturic acids, MA) by LC-MS/MS. MS and HPLC parameters were optimized with 16 MAs available as reference compounds. All of these provided a CNL of 129 Da in the negative-ion mode. To assess sensitivity, a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with 251 theoretical transitions using the CNL of 129 Da combined with a product ion scan (IDA thMRM) was compared with CNL combined with a product ion scan (IDA CNL). An information-dependent acquisition (IDA) uses a survey scan such as MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) to generate "informations" and starting a second acquisition experiment such as a product ion scan using these "informations." Th-MRM means calculated transitions and not transitions generated from an available standard in the tuning mode. The product ion spectra provide additional information on the chemical structure of the unknown analytes. All MA standards were spiked in low concentrations to rat urines and were detected with both methods with LODs ranging from 60 pmol/mL to 1.63 nmol/mL with IDA thMRM. The expected product ion spectra were observed in urine. Application of this screening method to biological samples indicated the presence of a number of MAs in urine of unexposed rats, and resulted in the identification of 1,4-dihydroxynonene mercapturic acid as one of these MAs by negative and positive product ion spectra. These results show that the developed methods have a high potential to serve as both a prescreen to detect unknown MAs and to identify these analytes in complex matrix. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2005, 16, 1976 -1984

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