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The mycotoxin ochratoxin A is a substrate for phenylalanine hydroxylase in isolated rat hepatocytes and in vivo

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Abstract

Ochratoxin A (OTA), is a mycotoxin contaminating food and feed stuffs, consisting of a chlorinated dihydroisocoumarin linked through a 7-carboxyl group tol-phenylalanine by an amide bond. When OTA (0.12–1.4 mM) is incubated with freshly isolated rat hepatocytes, it inhibits both the hydroxylation of phenylalanine (0.05 mM) to tyrosine, catalyzed by phenylalanine hydroxylase and the subsequent metabolism of tyrosine as measured by homogentisate oxidation. The IC50 of OTA for phenylalanine hydroxylation is 0.43 mM. OTα, (0.5–1.0 mM), the dihydroisocoumarin moiety of OTA, does not inhibit phenylalanine hydroxylase activity under these conditions. During incubations of hepatocytes with uniformly labelled [3H]-OTA and unlabelled phenylalanine, tyrosine-ochratoxin A is formed (up to 6% of the total mycotoxin added), indicating that ochratoxin can act as a substrate for phenylalanine hydroxylase. In vivo tyrosine-OTA is also found in liver of poisoned animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS and Université Louis Pasteur, 15, rue Descartes, 67084, Strasbourg, France

    E. E. Creppy, K. Chakor & G. Dirheimer

  2. Department of Biochemistry, The University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, L69 3BX, Liverpool, UK

    M. J. Fisher

Authors
  1. E. E. Creppy
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  2. K. Chakor
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  3. M. J. Fisher
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  4. G. Dirheimer
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Creppy, E.E., Chakor, K., Fisher, M.J. et al. The mycotoxin ochratoxin A is a substrate for phenylalanine hydroxylase in isolated rat hepatocytes and in vivo. Arch Toxicol 64, 279–284 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01972987

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01972987

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