Abstract

The supply of NADPH for cytochrome P-450-dependent mixed function oxidation from the pentose cycle and mitochondria in periportal and pericentral regions of the liver lobule was evaluated in perfused rat liver. Rates of 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation in livers from fed, normal rats monitored with micro-light guides placed on periportal and pericentral regions were 1.2 mumol/g/hr in both regions of the liver lobule. In livers from fed, phenobarbital-treated rats, rates were 3.6 and 7.0 mumol/g/hr in periportal and pericentral regions, respectively. Following treatment of rats with 6-aminonicotinamide, an inhibitor of the pentose cycle, rates of 7-hydroxycoumarin production were approximately 0.9 mumol/g/hr in both regions of the lobule in livers from normal rats and 2.1 and 3.4 mumol/g/hr in periportal and pericentral regions, respectively, in livers from phenobarbital-treated rats. Based on the difference in rates of 7-hydroxycoumarin production in the presence and absence of 6-aminonicotinamide, we conclude that the pentose cycle supplies NADPH for 7-ethoxycoumarin metabolism at rates around 0.3 mumol/g/hr in both regions of the liver lobule in livers from normal rats and 1.5 and 3.6 mumol/g/hr in periportal and pericentral regions, respectively, in livers from phenobarbital-treated rats. Potassium cyanide, an inhibitor of mitochondrial oxidation, reduced rates of 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation to approximately 0.6 mumol/g/hr in both regions of the liver lobule in livers from fed, normal rats and to around 0.2 mumol/g/hr after fasting or treatment with 6-aminonicotinamide. In livers from fasted, phenobarbital-treated rats, 7-hydroxycoumarin was produced at rates of 0.3 and 0.7 mumol/g/hr in periportal and pericentral regions, respectively, in the presence of KCN. Decreases in rates of 7-hydroxycoumarin production during KCN infusion indicate that the mitochondria supply about 0.7 mumol of NADPH/g/hr for 7-ethoxycoumarin metabolism in both regions in livers from normal rats and 1.3 and 2.7 mumol/g/hr in periportal and pericentral regions in livers from phenobarbital-treated rats. The sum of KCN and 6-aminonicotinamide-sensitive rates of 7-ethoxycoumarin metabolism closely approximated rates measured in the absence of the inhibitors. These data indicate that mitochondria supply 50 to 70% of the reducing equivalents for mixed function oxidation of 7-ethoxycoumarin in both regions of the liver lobule in livers from fed rats.