Effect of cobalt protoporphyrin on hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes: Specificity for cytochrome P-450

Cobaltic protoporphyrin IX (cobalt protoporphyrin) is known to cause an extensive and long-lasting depletion of hepatic cytochrome P-450 in rats, and it has been used to evaluate the role of hepatic cytochrome P-450 in xenobiotic metabolism and toxicity. To examine the specificity of cobalt protoporphyrin for hepatic cytochrome P-450, cobalt protoporphyrin was administered to rats and hamsters, and its effects on cytochrome P-450-dependent and non-P-450-dependent phase I and phase II metabolism were determined. Cobalt protoporphyrin pretreatment depleted hepatic cytochrome P-450 in both species and lowered their V max values for the hepatic microsomal metabolism of ethylmorphine, aminopyrine, ethoxyresorufin and ethoxycoumarin, without change in their K m values. In the rat, cobalt protoporphyrin treatment lowered both the V max, and the K m for microsomal metabolism of aniline. In vivo hepatic cytochrome P-450-dependent metabolism, as measured by antipyrine clearance, was decreased in both species. UDP-Glucuronyltransferase, phenolsulfotransferase and glutathione- S-transferase were unaffected, as was hepatic glutathione. Modest effects of cobalt protoporphyrin were seen on the hepatic microsomal flavoprotein mixed-function oxidase (hamster only), cytochrome P-450 reductase, cytochrome b 5, (rat only), UDPGA (rat only), and glycogen, and on blood glucose (rat). In in vivo studies with hamsters given a low dose of acetaminophen, cobalt protoporphyrin suppressed the apparent rate constants for the cytochrome P-450-dependent pathways of acetaminophen metabolism but had no effect on acetaminophen glucuronidation and sulfation. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis indicated that cobalt protoporphyrin markedly reduced the levels of the cytochrome P-450 holoenzyme but did not alter either the content or profile of the cytochrome P-450 apoenzyme. Collectively, the data indicate that cobalt protoporphyrin shows relatively high selectivity for the hepatic cytochrome P-450 system, and support the use of this compound as a tool for resolution of the role of hepatic cytochrome P-450 in xenobiotic metabolism and toxicity.