Effects of anticarcinogenic monoterpenes on phase II hepatic metabolizing enzymes.

The monocyclic monoterpenoid compounds limonene and sobrerol have anticarcinogenic activity when fed during the initiation stage of dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced rat mammary carcinogenesis. Here we investigated the potential roles of hepatic glutathione-S-transferase (GST; EC 2.5.1.18) and uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl transferase (UDPGT; EC 2.4.1.17) in monoterpene-mediated chemoprevention. Diets containing the isoeffective anticarcinogenic terpenes, 5% limonene or 1% sobrerol, elevated hepatic GST activity > 2-fold when measured using the general substrate 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and 3,4-dichloronitrobenzene for the GST dimer 3-3. However, there were no significant changes in hepatic GST activity when 1,2-epoxy-3-(p-nitrophenoxy)propane was used. We found that both terpene diets increased GST affinity-purified protein 1.5-fold and the HPLC subunit profile. Liver GST subunit 3 had the greatest increase followed by 1 and 4 with no change in subunit 2. Both terpene diets significantly increased the activity of the methylcholanthrene-inducible and the phenobarbital-inducible UDPGT isozymes. We propose that much of the anticarcinogenic activity of these monocyclic monoterpenes during the initiation phase of DMBA carcinogenesis is mediated through the induction of the hepatic detoxification enzymes GST and UDPGT.