Substrate-selective induction of rabbit hepatic UDP-glucuronyltransferases by ethanol and other xenobiotics.

Male New Zealand white rabbits were treated with various inducers of hepatic metabolism enzymes to characterize the induction of UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UDP-GT) enzymes. Rabbits were pretreated with phenobarbital, 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT), 3-methylcholanthrene, beta-naphthoflavone, Aroclor 1254, ethanol, trans-stilbene oxide, pregnenolone-16 alpha-carbonitrile, or clofibric acid. Hepatic microsomes from treated and control animals were incubated with the GT1-type substrates, p-nitrophenol and 1-naphthol; the GT2-type substrate, morphine; and the steroid substrate, estrone. Compared to the rat, the rabbit was particularly resistant to UDP-GT induction. Ethanol was the most potent inducer for both GT1 and GT2 activities, but it failed to induce steroid (estrone, estradiol, and testosterone) UDP-GT activities. Ethanol pretreatment increased oxazepam-GT but it decreased bilirubin-GT activity. 3-Methylcholanthrene (3MC) and beta-naphthoflavone (BNF) are the prototypic GT1 inducers in the rat, but 3MC caused no induction of GT1 activity and BNF caused induction of both GT1 and GT2 activities in the rabbit. None of the xenobiotic pretreatments increased the hepatic microsomal glucuronidation of estrone. These results demonstrate that the induction of UDP-GT activities, and the use of this phenomenon to classify UDP-GT forms, is somewhat species-specific and cannot necessarily be extrapolated from rats to other species. In addition, the substrate selectivity of ethanol-induced microsomal UDP-GT was established.