METABOLISM OF TRINITROTOLUENE (TNT) IN VITRO

¹ Department of Medicine, New York University College of Medicine and the Medical Service, Psychiatric Division, Bellevue Hospital

1. TNT is converted by slices of muscle and of liver into a compound which inhibits tissue respiration; this compound is then further metabolized with the resultant formation of a product having no inhibitory effect on the oxygen uptake of tissues.

2. TNT removal by tissue slices and homogenates is more rapid under anaerobic than under aerobic conditions.

3. The presence of DPN is essential for the removal of TNT by heart extracts. Cysteine increases the rate of the removal of TNT.

4. TNT is removed by a system containing reduced DPN and a highly purified flavoprotein (Straub). Nitroso-dinitrotoluene is the probable product of this reduction.

5. TNT is reduced by partially purified xanthine oxidase to hydroxylaminodinitrotoluene

6. 4-amino-2·6-dinitrotoluene was isolated as the end product of the metabolism of TNT by liver extracts.

7. The metabolism of TNT in animal tissues consists in a stepwise reduction of one nitro group. The first step is brought about by a transfer of hydrogen from flavoproteins to the nitro group. Hydroxylamino-dinitrotoluene accumulates because the last step, reduction to the amine, proceeds at a slower rate than the initial phase of the metabolism of TNT.

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