Purified form of cytochrome P-450 from rainbow trout with high activity toward conversion of aflatoxin B1 to aflatoxin B1-2,3-epoxide.

Aflatoxin B1, the most potent hepatic chemical carcinogen known, is activated to the putative product aflatoxin B1-2,3-epoxide via a cytochrome P-450-dependent reaction. Mt. Shasta rainbow trout is the most sensitive species known to the hepatocarcinogenic effects of aflatoxin B1. We have previously isolated and purified a minor form of cytochrome P-450 from this strain of rainbow trout, with a lambda max in the carbon monoxide-reduced difference spectrum of 449.5 nm and a molecular weight of 54,000. In this study, we have compared in a reconstituted system this trout P-450 to trout cytochrome P-448 and rat cytochrome P-450 and P-448 for metabolism and activation of aflatoxin B1. Trout cytochrome P-450 had much higher activity towards aflatoxin B1 and a greater degree of regioselectivity in the formation of aflatoxin B1-2,3-dihydroxy-2,3-dihydrodiol and was much more efficient in producing aflatoxin B1 covalent adducts with DNA. The existence of such a form of cytochrome P-450 in Mt. Shasta rainbow trout may be responsible for the acute sensitivity of this strain to the carcinogenic effects of aflatoxin B1.