Abstract
Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a potent lipid mediator of the inflammatory response whose biological half-life is believed to be mediated principally by metabolism to inactive forms either in the tissue of origin or in the liver. Pathways of metabolic degradation of LTB4 along with structural identification of metabolites have been elucidated previously in isolated rat liver cells, human keratinocytes, human polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and cultured HepG2 cells. Research advances in human liver transplantation and preservation have made isolated human hepatocytes available for studying the metabolism of LTB4 in vitro. LTB4 was added to plated human hepatocytes from three different subjects for 24-h periods whereupon the substrate was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with scintillation counting, UV spectroscopy, and negative ion electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Each set of hepatocytes yielded a different distribution of metabolites, but several metabolites appeared in all three sets of cells. These central metabolites included the previously identified 20-carboxy-LTB4 and 18-carboxy-LTB4, implicating the presence in the liver of specific P-450-mediated ω-oxidation as well as the enzymes involved in β-oxidation from the ω-terminus. Each set of hepatocytes produced the metabolite 10,11-dihydro-20-COOH-LTB4, a product of the 12-hydroxyeicosanoid dehydrogenase/Δ10reductase pathway. Glucuronides of LTB4 and several metabolites were found, which represents the first description of glucuronidation as a pathway of LTB4 metabolism. Finally, a series of novel metabolites were observed corresponding to β-oxidation from the carboxyl terminus of LTB4.
Footnotes
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Send reprint requests to: Dr. Robert C. Murphy, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, 1400 Jackson Street, Denver, CO 80206. E-mail: murphyr{at}njc.org
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↵1 This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (HL25785 and AG00619).
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↵2 Current address: Glaxo/Wellcome, 5 Moore Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
- Abbreviations:
- LTB4
- leukotriene B4
- HPLC
- high-performance liquid chromatography
- RP
- reversed-phase
- amu
- atomic mass unit
- HBSS
- Hanks’ balanced salt solution
- CID
- collisionally induced decomposition
- 10-HOTE
- 10-hydroxy-4,6,8,12-octadecatetraenoic acid
- 10-HOTrE
- 10-hydroxy-4,6,12-octadecatrienoic acid
- Received May 18, 1998.
- Accepted August 26, 1998.
- The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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