Short communication

Position selective sex difference in imipramine metabolism in rat liver microsomes☆

This chapter provides an overview of differences between male and female. In the description of the test design of experimental studies, a justification is seldom given for the choice of the sex of the test animals used. Many researchers prefer males where possible, on the basis of the assumption that female animals may bring about a greater variability as the result of the changing hormonal state during the oestrous cycle. Female animals might then be used in experiments when the responses studied are known not to vary across the cycle. However, female animals are presumably also quite often used on the basis of ethical or economical considerations in experiments for which the influence of the stage of the cycle on the responses under study has not been determined. The chapter describes the oestrous cycle of the female rat and of variations in physiological characteristics and pharmacological responsiveness over the cycle. It also describes the extent of differences between males and females on the basis of a series of examples varying widely in character.

The metabolism of imipramine and desipramine was examined by using isolated rat hepatocytes. The enzyme systems having high-affinity-and-low-capacity and low-affinity-and-high-capacity kinetic properties were found to catalyze aromatic 2-hydroxylations of imipramine and desipramine, and aliphatic N-demethylation of imipramine, respectively. The K_m and V_max values for N-demethylation of imipramine (which formed desipramine) were about 5–10 and 5 times larger than those of both 2-hydroxylations respectively. A competitive inhibition between the 2-hydroxylations of imipramine and desipramine (“parallel pathway interaction”) (Chiba M, Fujita S and Suzuki T, J Pharm Sci77: 944–947, 1988), observed using liver microsomes, was found also in isolated hepatocytes. It was concluded that the characteristics of imipramine metabolism observed in liver microsomes were well reproduced in isolated rat hepatocytes.

The major “male specific” species of cytochrome P-450 (P-450ml) was purified and an antibody against it used to evaluate the involvement of this isozyme in alterations of drug metabolism in senescence. P-450m1 exhibited strikingly high imipramine (IM) N-demethylase activity while it showed no IM 2-hydroxylation, which is an alternate pathway of IM metabolism in rat liver microsomes. The antibody to P-450m1 inhibited 80% of imipramine N-demethylation in young male rats. In old male rats, which have been shown to have lower IM N-demethylase activity, a 60% inhibition was observed. The inhibitable portion of this activity in old male rats is about one third of that in young rats, but the remaining portion not inhibited by this antibody is almost identical in young and old rats. IM 2-hydroxylation on the other hand was not inhibited by this antibody at all. It also inhibited about 30% of diazepam(DZ) N-demethylation in young rats but showed no inhibition in old rats, resulting in the loss of the age difference in the remaining portion. DZ 3-hydroxylation was not inhibited by this antibody, in spite of the fact that it showed a markedly higher activity in young male than in young female rats with a subsequent reduction in old age in male rats. This study provides the first direct evidence that differences in the amount of the major male specific P-450 isozyme (P-450m1) are responsible for the age- and sex-associated differences in some of the drug metabolizing activities. It also became apparent that P-450m1 may not be the only isozyme responsible for these differences.

The in vitro metabolic inhibitions between imipramine and its metabolites were investigated in rat liver microsomes. A type of precursor-metabolite interaction similar to that shown with lidocaine was observed in imipramine metabolism. Desipramine competitively inhibited the formation of 2-hydroxyimipramine from imipramine. Similarly, imipramine inhibited the formation of 2-hydroxydesipramine from desipramine. As in the cases of those 2-hydroxylations, a competitive inhibitory relationship also existed in the N-demethylation pathways of imipramine and 2-hydroxyimipramine. Studies on age-associated alterations of the metabolic rates of imipramine and its metabolites in rats demonstrated that N-demethylation activities of imipramine and of 2-hydroxyimipramine, which showed a large sex difference (male > female) in young rats, decreased markedly only in old male rats, while 2-hydroxylation activities of imipramine and desipramine, with no sex difference at any age, did not show a marked alteration in either sex. These data strongly suggest that the hydroxylation pathways of imipramine and desipramine and the demethylation pathways of imipramine and 2-hydroxyimipramine are each sharing the same species of cytochrome P-450. The in vivo metabolic inhibition between imipramine and desipramine was examined by simultaneous intraportal infusion of imipramine (25 nmol/min) and desipramine (175 nmol/min). The steady-state concentration of imipramine after simultaneous infusion was increased twofold over that after infusion of imipramine alone, without any change in the free fraction in blood.

The effect of repetitive oral administration of propranolol on hepatic microsomal drug metabolizing enzyme activities in the rat was investigated. Propranolol ring (4-, 5- and 7-)hydroxylase activities were markedly decreased, but, interestingly, N-desisopropylase activity was increased after propranolol administration. A marked decrease in enzyme activity after propranolol pretreatment was also observed with debrisoquine 4-hydroxylation. In addition, a similar decrease was observed with imipramine 2-hydroxylation which co-segregates with debrisoquine/sparteine type polymorphic drug oxidation, but not with imipramine N-demethylation. These results suggest the selective impairment of debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase by propranolol pretreatment.