Toxic liver injury. The metabolism of dimethylnitrosamine in vitro

Abstract

The metabolism of dimethylnitrosamine in vitro has been studied in preparations of rat and rabbit tissues. Slices and broken-cell preparations of liver destroyed dimethylnitrosamine, but the other tissues tested were inactive. The reaction required oxygen. The ability to destroy dimethylnitrosamine was found only in the microsome + cell-sap fraction of liver-tissue suspensions. Neither the microsomes nor cell sap was appreciably active alone, but activity was restored on recombination. Activity was removed from tissue suspensions by dialysis. It could be partially restored by the addition of tri- or di-phosphopyridine nucleotide; the former was the more effective. The possible bearing of these results on the hepatotoxic action of dimethylnitrosamine is discussed.