title: Retention mechanism of imidazoles in connective tissue. IV. Identification of a nucleophilic imidazolone metabolite in rats.
abstract: Formation of a nucleophilic 4(5H)(or 5(4H))-imidazolone structure has been postulated from in vitro studies to be one of the causative elements involved in the retention of drugs with imidazole moiety in connective tissue. To confirm this, we searched for the imidazolone-related metabolite in rats after intravenous dosing of 2-methylimidazole (2MI; 14C-labeled and unlabeled form, 3 and 300 micromol/kg body weight) as a model compound. The excreted urine, the major route of elimination of the compound, was collected and analyzed using the HPLC/MS system with a counterion effect for metabolite separation. 2-Methyl-4(5H)(or 5(4H))-imidazolone (2MIone) was identified as a urinary metabolite by chromatographic and mass-spectral inspection with the corresponding authentic standard. Pretreatment of rats with either SKF-525A (50 mg/kg, i.p.) or cimetidine (200 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly increased the excreted amount of 2MIone in urine and the irreversible binding of 2MI equivalents in the aortic tissue, whereas both factors were reduced by pretreatment with triethylenetetramine dihydrochloride (150 mg/kg/d for 5 d, s.c.). These results support the aforementioned deduction, and also raise the possibility that a cytochrome P450-independent, copper-related metabolic reaction might be involved in the imidazolone formation in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Metabolism, Taisho Pharmaceutical Research Center, Ohmiya, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukasawa
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kohno
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukushima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suwa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Awazu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001711:Biotransformation; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000378:metabolism*; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism; D065607:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D065607:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D007093:Imidazoles; C117197:imidazolone; D003300:Copper