Microsomes isolated from rats treated with either
pyrazole or
4-methylpyrazole, potent inhibitors of
alcohol dehydrogenase, catalyzed the oxidation of
ethanol and
2-butanol at rates 2-3-fold higher than saline controls. Time course experiments and dose-response experiments indicated that an increase in the microsomal oxidation of
alcohols could be observed 24 hr after a single treatment with 200 mg/kg
body weight of either
pyrazole or
4-methylpyrazole, and after 2 or 3 days of treatment with 50 mg/kg of either of these compounds. The
pyrazole treatment did not change the activity of
NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, the content of
cytochrome P-450, or the oxidation of
aminopyrine. Hence, microsomal oxidation of
alcohols was increased by the
pyrazole treatment whether results were expressed "per mg of
protein" or "per nmol of P-450." Microsomes from the
pyrazole-treated rats displayed an increase in binding spectrum with
ethanol as the substrate as compared to controls, as well as type 2 binding spectrum with
dimethyl sulfoxide and
2-butanol. These results suggest the possibility that
pyrazole may induce an alcohol-preferring P-450
isozyme. By contrast, the
4-methylpyrazole treatment, besides increasing the oxidation of
alcohols, also increased the oxidation of
aminopyrine and the content of
cytochrome P-450. The increase in the oxidation of
alcohols and
aminopyrine was primarily due to the increase in content of P-450 produced by the
4-methylpyrazole treatment. Binding spectra with
dimethyl sulfoxide and
2-butanol were also observed after
4-methylpyrazole treatment; however, the 2-butanol-binding spectrum was a modified type 1 spectrum, not type 2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)