title: Methotrexate alters carbon flow through the hepatic folate-dependent one-carbon pool in rats.
abstract: The chemotherapeutic value of methotrexate resides in its ability to perturb folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism and subsequently inhibit DNA synthesis. To assess the functional effect of methotrexate on hepatic one-carbon metabolism, we have developed and applied tracer kinetic techniques in vivo to quantify the carbon flux through the folate-dependent one-carbon pool in rats. Following a 7-day treatment period with methotrexate (0.2 mg/kg body weight), the tracers L-[ring-2-14C] histidine and L-[methyl-3H] methionine were simultaneously infused into control and methotrexate-treated rats. Methotrexate treatment decreased hepatic tetrahydrofolate, methyltetrahydrofolate, and formyltetrahydrofolate, concentrations by 63, 83, and 58%, respectively. Furthermore, the enzymatic activity of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, the terminal enzyme in the catabolism of the ring-2-carbon of histidine to CO2, was diminished by 32% in methotrexate-treated animals. These changes in enzyme activity and folate coenzyme concentrations did not result in a significant decrease in the oxidative flow of carbon from histidine to CO2 in methotrexate-treated rats compared to control animals (2.40 and 3.22 micromol/h/kg3/4, respectively). Oxidative carbon flow was reflective of tetrahydrofolate and formyltetrahydrofolate pools when expressed as a percent of total folate: neither coenzyme pool was diminished as a result of methotrexate treatment. In contrast, the reductive carbon flux through the one-carbon pool from histidine to methionine was significantly decreased 59% in methotrexate-treated (7.63 micromol/h/kg3/4) versus control rats (18.73 micromol/h/kg3/4)). Likewise, methyltetrahydrofolate, as a percent of total folate, was reduced 51% in methotrexate-treated rats. Consequently, total measured carbon flow (oxidative+reductive) was 54% lower in rats subjected to subchronic methotrexate treatment. These tracer kinetic experiments quantitatively demonstrate the extent to which methotrexate alters the actual carbon flow through the hepatic folate-dependent one-carbon pool, primarily directed at diminishing the reductive carbon flow towards methyltetrahydrofolate and methionine synthesis.
authors: Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison 53706, USA.
authors: K L
authors: KL
authors: Schalinske
authors: R D
authors: RD
authors: Steele
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006639:Histidine / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D006639:Histidine; D002244:Carbon; D005492:Folic Acid; D008727:Methotrexate