Reductive metabolism of niridazole by adult Schistosoma mansoni. Correlation with covalent drug binding to parasite macromolecules.

Niridazole, an antischistosomal nitrothiazole derivative, is metabolized by adult Schistosoma mansoni to one or more reactive intermediates, as evidenced by extensive covalent binding of [14C]niridazole to parasite macromolecules. When worm pairs were incubated for 16 hr in culture medium containing 70 microM [14C]niridazole, 26-34% of the total parasite-associated radioactivity was irreversibly bound to trichloroacetic acid-precipitable material. Drug binding was both time- and [14C]niridazole concentration-dependent. Of the bound drug fraction, 85-90% was associated with parasite proteins, 3-5% with RNA and 4-7% with DNA. When schistosomes were recovered from infected mice, treated with periodic doses of [14C]niridazole, over 40% of the total parasite-associated radioactivity was bound to macromolecules. Niridazole caused up to a 40% decrease in the concentration of total nonprotein thiols in intact schistosomes incubated with the drug over an 8-hr period. Under strictly anaerobic conditions, cell-free schistosome preparations catalyzed a reduced pyridine nucleotide-dependent reduction of niridazole's essential nitro group, as evidenced by disappearance of absorption at 400 nm. Net nitroreduction did not occur under aerobic conditions, although the drug did stimulate oxidation of the pyridine nucleotide cofactor. Covalent binding of [14C]niridazole also took place in this cell-free system, with requirements identical with those needed for enzymatic nitroreduction. Covalent drug binding, but not nitroreduction, was inhibited up to 80-85% by 2 mM L-cysteine, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, or glutathione; S-carboxymethyl-L-cysteine, which has no free sulfhydryl group, was not inhibitory. [14C]4'-Methylniridazole, a nonschistosomicidal analogue of niridazole, was taken up by intact schistosomes in vitro, but was not metabolized and did not bind covalently to parasite macromolecules. Furthermore, 4'-methylniridazole did not affect the concentration of nonprotein thiols in intact parasites and did not serve as a substrate for schistosomal nitroreductase in vitro. These results indicate a positive correlation between proximal metabolic activation of niridazole within these facultative anaerobic organisms and its antiparasitic activity.