Effect of 3,4-Benzpyrene on the Formation and Hydrolysis of Conjugates

Abstract

REPORTS in the literature postulating the presence of sex differences in conjugation, especially in glucuronide conjugation, led us to demonstrate this point on the Wistar strain of rats by raising the conjugation capacity with a carcinogen, 3,4-benzpyrene (Inscoe and Axelrod¹). The purpose was to elicit the possible differences more clearly. In the same connexion, we studied both uridine diphosphate glucuronic acid (UDPGA) transferase and total conjugation, as we had found in earlier experiments that these processes do not necessarily have a parallel course. We also observed how, when a carcinogen of this kind shifts the conjugation activity to another level, certain hydrolytic enzymes associated with it, such as β-glucuronidase and arylsulphatase, also undergo a change. In addition, we used Sprague–Dawley rats from another laboratory besides our own Wistar strain.