N-acetylbenzidine-N'-glucuronidation by human, dog and rat liver.

While N-glucuronidation is an important pathway for metabolism of aromatic amines, it has not been demonstrated for N-acetylbenzidine. A glucuronide of N-acetylbenzidine was synthesized and identified by mass spectrometry as N-acetylbenzidine-N'-glucuronide. This N'-glucuronide is acid labile with a t1/2 of 4 min at pH 5.3. A similar acid lability was also observed with benzidine-N-glucuronide. The formation of N-acetylbenzidine-N'-glucuronide was assessed with liver slices and microsomes prepared from human, dog and rat. When 0.014 mM [3H]N-acetylbenzidine was incubated with human liver slices a significant amount of N-acetylbendizine-N'-glucuronide was produced (8-26% of the total radioactivity recovered). With higher concentrations of [3H]N-acetylbenzidine (1 mM) rat slices also produced N-acetylbenzidine-N'-glucuronide. However, N'-glucuronide formation was not detected with dog liver slices incubated with either 0.014 or 1 mM [3H]N-acetylbenzidine. N-Acetylbenzidine-N'-glucuronide formation was observed with microsomes prepared from human, dog and rat. To assess maximum activity four detergents were used at two concentrations. With or without detergent activation the relative amount of glucuronidation was human > > dog > rat. The rate of benzidine N-glucuronide formation was 4.3- and 1.6-fold greater than N-acetylbenzidine-N'-glucuronide in dog and rat respectively, while in human both rates were similar (1.1-fold). With or without detergent activation the relative amount of benzidine-N-glucuronide formation was human > dog > > rat. N-Glucuronidation of [3H]N,N'-diacetylbenzidine was not observed. Thus N-actylbenzidine-N'-glucuronide formation appears to be an important pathway for metabolism of N-acetylbenzidine, especially in humans. Due to their acid lability, formation of the N-glucuronides of N-acetylbenzidine and benzidine provides a mechanism for hepatic detoxification and accumulation of these carcinogens in the bladder. A new model is described illustrating the effect of N-glucuronidation and the influence of N-acetylation on arylmono- and aryldiamine-induced bladder carcinogenesis.