title: N-acetylation of the glutamate residue of intact glutathione conjugates in rats: a novel pathway for the metabolic processing of thiol adducts of xenobiotics.
abstract: We report herein the identification of a novel metabolic pathway that involves acetylation of the amino group of the glutamic acid residue of intact glutathione (GSH) conjugates of a series of compounds in rat hepatocytes and in rats in vivo. The "nonacetylated" as well as the "acetylated" GSH conjugates of the compounds in question were detected in rat hepatocyte incubations and in rat bile. These conjugates were characterized by online liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry on an ion-trap mass spectrometer as well as accurate mass measurements using a high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight instrument. The accurate mass measurements on the molecular ions of nonacetylated and acetylated GSH adducts clearly revealed the addition of a mass equivalent to C(2)H(2)O in the latter conjugates. Furthermore, the collision-induced dissociation of the molecular ions of nonacetylated GSH adducts yielded fragment ions involving the loss of pyroglutamate (129 Da), which are typical of many GSH conjugates. For acetylated adducts, however, fragment ions resulting from a loss of 171 Da (equivalent to N-acetyl-pyroglutamate) were observed, indicating that acetylation had occurred on the glutamic acid residue of the GSH conjugates. An enzyme-catalyzed transacetylation process that utilized acetyl CoA as the acetyl donor, and resulted in the formation of the same acetylated adducts that were detected in rat hepatocytes and in rat bile, was identified in rat liver microsomes. This appears to be the first reported instance of N-acetylation of intact GSH conjugates in any species and represents a novel pathway of metabolic processing of thiol adducts of xenobiotics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Metabolism, Merck & Co., Inc., P.O. Box 2000, RY80E-200, Rahway, NJ 07065, USA.
authors.forename: Wenji
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Doss
authors.forename: Ralph A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Stearns
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D000818:Animals; D001646:Bile / Q000378:metabolism; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008970:Molecular Weight; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D015262:Xenobiotics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D015262:Xenobiotics; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005978:Glutathione