Characterization of S-(N,N-Dialkylaminocarbonyl)cysteine Adducts and Enzyme Inhibition Produced by Thiocarbamate Herbicides in the Rat.

Thiocarbamates are a major class of herbicides used extensively in the agricultural industry. It has been shown that thiocarbamates can form reactive sulfoxide and sulfone intermediates, which may be involved in the toxicity of thiocarbamates through covalent modification of cysteine and serine active sites of enzymes. Molinate has been shown to generate an S-hexahydro-1H-azepine-1-carbonyl adduct on the Cys-125 residue of the beta2- and beta3-chains of rat globin analogous to that reported for disulfiram and to inhibit aldehyde dehydrogenase and nonspecific esterase activity. The present study examined whether other thiocarbamate herbicides produce similar covalent protein modifications and enzyme inhibition to that reported for molinate and whether S-(N,N-dialkylaminocarbonyl)cysteine adduct levels are correlated to enzyme inhibition or the structure of thiocarbamate herbicides. Additionally, the potential of molinate to act as a peripheral demyelinating agent similar to disulfiram was evaluated. To address these aims, rats were exposed ip to molinate, vernolate, ethiolate, EPTC, or butylate for 5 days after which hemogloblin was isolated and analyzed for protein adducts using HPLC and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In addition, brain, liver, and testes mitochondrial and microsomal fractions were assayed for nonspecific esterase, low Km ALDH, or total ALDH activities, and S-(N,N-dialkylaminocarbonyl)cysteine adducts were measured by LC/MS/MS. For the neurotoxicity assessments, rats were administered molinate parenterally for subchronic periods and morphological evaluations performed on peripheral nerves. All of the thiocarbamates except butylate produced S-(N,N-dialkylaminocarbonyl)cysteine adducts on globin and the quantity of adducts detected decreased with increasing size of the nitrogen substituents. In contrast, a clear relationship between cysteine modification in mitochondrial and microsomal samples to nitrogen substituents was not evident, and although molinate produced relatively high levels of adducts and esterase inhibition and butylate low levels of adducts and esterase inhibition for most samples, in general, the level of S-(N,N-dialkylaminocarbonyl)cysteine adducts did not appear to be related to enzyme inhibition. Molinate did not produce segmental demyelination in peripheral nerve, suggesting that molinate and possibly other thiocarbamates do not share the neurotoxic potential of dithiocarbamates.