Sulfation of Drug Compounds by the Zebrafish Cytosolic Sulfotransferases (SULTs)
To establish the zebrafish as a model to investigate drug metabolism through sulfation, we had previous cloned, expressed, and purified fourteen distinct zebrafish cytosolic sulfotransferases (SULTs). In the present study, we carried a systematic analysis of the sulfating activities of these fourteen zebrafish SULTs toward a panel of drug compounds. Results showed that four of the fourteen zebrafish SULTs showed no detectable activities toward any of the tested drugs. Among the other ten zebrafish SULTs, three SULT1 enzymes (SULT1 ST1, SULT1 ST2, and SULT1 ST3) displayed considerably stronger activities than the others toward the majority of the drug compounds tested. Specifically, SULT1 ST1, SULT1 ST2, and SULT1 ST3 showed the highest specific activities, at 26.9, 29.3, and 31.5 nmol/min/mg, toward aesculetin, 4-methylembelliferone, and dobutamine, respectively. To further investigate the sulfation of tested drugs by the responsible zebrafish SULT enzymes, the kinetics of the sulfation reactions were analyzed. Kinetic constants determined indicated that the sulfation of these drugs by the SULT enzymes tested is likely to be physiologically relevant. A metabolic labeling experiment using cultured zebrafish liver cells and HepG2 human hepatoma cells was performed. Results showed that zebrafish liver cells displayed a similar pattern of sulfation of the drugs tested as that of HepG2 cells, implying that human and zebrafish liver cells may share considerable similarities with regard to their constituent drug-sulfating SULT enzymes.
Keywords: Cytosolic sulfotransferase; HepG2 cells; SULT; drug sulfation; zebrafish
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 April 2010
- Drug Metabolism Letters publishes short papers on major advances in all areas of drug metabolism and disposition. The emphasis will be on publishing quality papers very rapidly. Letters will be processed rapidly by taking full advantage of the Internet technology for both the submission and review of manuscripts. The journal covers the following areas:
In vitro systems including CYP-450; enzyme induction and inhibition; drug-drug interactions and enzyme kinetics; pharmacokinetics, toxicokinetics, species scaling and extrapolations; P-glycoprotein and transport carriers; target organ toxicity and interindividual variability; drug metabolism and disposition studies; extrahepatic metabolism; phase I and phase II metabolism; recent developments for the identification of drug metabolites, reactive intermediate and glutathione conjugates. - Editorial Board
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