These oxidative reactions, while covalent, are generally reversible, in the case of glutathione disulfide GSSG. via the action of NADPH-dependent glutathione reductase, and in the case of protein disulfides via a number of cellular reductants. Target specificity appears to be determined by a combination of: 1. the chemical interactions among ROS and RNS that define the ultimate predominant reactive species at a particular molecular site; 2. the location within proteins of thiol and iron targets, and nature of the surrounding molecular structure allowing access; and 3. the local concentration of cellular scavengers such as GSH and SOD that may modify and transport the reactive species w42x. As distinct from endogenous formation during theabove mentioned physiological processes, or involvement in pathological conditions such as cancer, AIDS and neurodegenerative diseases w41x, the potential teratological role of xenobiotic-enhanced formation of ROS and RNS via signal transduction has yet to be determined. Of the teratogens that have been examined, those discussed above that initiate irreversible oxidative damage also initiate the reversible oxidation of GSH and protein thiols w21x;reviews w2,4,6,39x.. In the case of thalidomide, thiol oxidation occurs at lower doses in a teratologically susceptible species rabbit. than in a resistant species rat. w43x. However, the causal role of such reversible oxidative modifications in teratologic initiation is unclear. For example, in the absence of drug exposure, embryos in culture experience significantly enhanced oxidative stress, but nevertheless appear to develop normally, suggesting a high embryonic capacity for maintaining critical molecular thiols in the reduced state w12x.4. Modulatory pathways for oxidative damageThe teratological consequences of oxidative damage to embryonic cellular macromolecules can beviewed within the context of competing pathways of maternal elimination of the xenobiotic thereby avoiding bioactivation., embryonic xenobiotic bioactivation, detoxification of a xenobiotic free radical reactive intermediate, cytoprotective pathways for reactive oxygen species, and repair of damaged macromolecules Fig. 1.. An unfavorable imbalance among these interrelated pathways allows cumulative oxidative damage to embryonic macromolecules, resultingin teratological initiation, even at therapeutic doses or plasma concentrations of drugs, or at supposedly safe exposure levels of environmental chemicals. The role of these modulatory pathways in chemical teratogenesis has been comprehensively reviewed elsewhere w1–6x, and the following discussion will be limited to modulation of oxidative damage relevant to teratogenesis. Throughout the studies discussed below, alterations in pathways that enhance or reduce oxidative damage have a similar modulatory effect on in vivo teratological outcomes or related in vitro toxicities in cells and cultured embryos. These observations consistently support but do not unequivocally establish a role for oxidativedamage in the molecular mechanism of embryotoxicity and teratogenesis.
4.1. Xenobiotic elimination
Maternal elimination of xenobiotics via so-called phase II pathways such as sulfation and glucuronidation may reduce the amount of xenobiotic able to reach the embryo for proximal bioactivation and teratologic initiation. While such a protective role for sulfation does not appear to have been examined, there is evidence of an embryoprotective role for glucuronidation, catalyzed by the UDP-glucurono-syltransferases UGTs.. In pregnant Gunn rats with a hereditary UGT deficiency, the incidence of in utero fetal death resorptions. initiated by a non-carcino-
genic dose 25 mgrkg ip. of benzowaxpyrene was over 2-fold higher than that in UGT-normal controls w10x. In hepatic microsomes from several strains of UGT-deficient rat, the glucuronidation of benzowaxpyrene metabolites was reduced, with a resultant increase in bioactivation and covalent binding to DNA and protein that also was observed in in vivo studies w44x. Thus, the increased teratological susceptibility of UGT-deficient rats appears to be
due to reduced glucuronidation resulting in enhanced bioactivation. In skin fibroblasts isolated from either heterozygous or homozygous UGT-deficient rats, both benzowaxpyrene and the tobacco carcinogen NNK initiated DNA oxidation and micronucleus formation that were substantially greater than in UGTnormal cells w8,45x.
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