N-Acetylation of paraphenylenediamine in human skin and keratinocytes.

Skin is the major target of allergic reactions to paraphenylenediamine (PPD). Such small molecules require activation to become immunogenic. The balance between activation and/or detoxification processes is critical for immunogenic potentials of compounds. Therefore, we investigated N-acetylation (NAT) capacities of human skin for PPD to gain a better understanding of its mechanisms of action. PPD is acetylated to monoacetyl-PPD (MAPPD), which in turn is acetylated to N,N'-diacetyl-PPD (DAPPD). This was found using cytosolic fractions from human skin (n = 9) and cultured normal human epidermal keratinocytes (n = 7). The cutaneous activities for MAPPD formation ranged from 0.41 to 3.68 nmol/mg/min (9-fold variation) and DAPPD formation from 0.65 to 3.25 nmol/mg protein/min (5-fold), respectively. Similar results were obtained with keratinocytes. NAT activities toward both substrates, PPD and MAPPD, were correlated in keratinocytes (r = 0.930), suggesting that the reactions were catalyzed by the same enzyme. Formation of MAPPD and DAPPD was competitively inhibited in the presence of p-aminobenzoic acid (300 microM), a typical NAT1 substrate, but not by sulfamethazine. These kinetic characteristics suggest that the acetylation of PPD in human skin and keratinocytes is predominantly attributable to the polymorphic NAT1, although both mRNAs (NAT1 and NAT2) are synthesized in human skin and keratinocytes. The metabolism of PPD by NAT1 in human skin and keratinocytes as well as the virtual absence of NAT2 activity may have important toxicological implications. In the case of PPD, our results emphasize that N-acetylation status may be a susceptibility factor for the development of an allergy to PPD.