Pyrazole is different from acetone and ethanol as an inducer of the polysubstrate monooxygenase system in mice: evidence that pyrazole-inducible P450Coh is distinct from acetone-inducible P450ac.

The induction of liver microsomal monooxygenase activities elicited by pyrazole, ethanol, and acetone, all shown to be inducers of rat P450j and rabbit P450LM3a, has been compared in inbred strains of DBA/2N, AKR/J, and Balb/c mouse. Pyrazole strongly increases coumarin 7-hydroxylase (COH) activity in DBA/2N but much less in other strains. The effect of pyrazole on aniline p-hydroxylase and ethanol oxidase activities is also strain dependent: an increase was seen only in the DBA/2N strain. Ethanol and acetone were unable to induce COH, whereas aniline p-hydroxylase and ethanol oxidase were elevated about 1.4- to 3.3-fold in all strains. No strain difference could be detected in aniline p-hydroxylase or ethanol oxidase inducibility. There was a strong correlation between aniline p-hydroxylase and ethanol oxidase activities in every strain, whereas no positive correlation could be found between COH and aniline p-hydroxylase activities. Immunoinhibition experiments showed that a polyclonal antibody against purified pyrazole-inducible COH (P450Coh) blocked about 90% of COH activity, but only about 10% of aniline p-hydroxylase or ethanol oxidase in mouse liver microsomes. Monoclonal antibody 1-91-3 (raised against rat acetone-inducible P450ac) did not inhibit COH, whereas aniline p-hydroxylase was blocked 46-76% and ethanol oxidase 25-70%, depending on the source of microsomes. In immunoblots, anti-P450Coh recognized only its own antigen but not the P450ac, whereas monoclonal antibody 1-98-1 against P450ac detected P450ac and a corresponding form in the D2 mouse liver, but not the P450Coh. The purified P450ac and P450Coh had molecular masses of 52 and 50 kDa, respectively, on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These antigens were expressed differentially in response to pyrazole, ethanol, and acetone: P450Coh was increased only after pyrazole treatment, but 1-98-1-detectable protein was elevated in D2 mouse liver microsomes by ethanol and acetone, but not by pyrazole. We conclude that mouse P450Coh and rat P450ac are not corresponding forms of the same isozyme, and that a P450ac-like protein, responsible for most of aniline p-hydroxylation and ethanol oxidation, is present in the D2 mouse liver. These two P450 isozymes are also dissimilarly expressed in the mouse liver in response to inducer administration.