Detection of Reactive Quinones in the Metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by the Formation of their Glutathione Conjugates

The biotransformation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to quinones by rat liver microsomes was investigated. The employment of an electrochemical detector allowed the specific detection of quinones separated by reverse phase HPLC with higher sensitivity as compared to UV detection. Microsomal incubations of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) resulted in the formation of 1,6-, 3,6- and 6,12-quinones, of naphthalene in the detection of naphthalene-1,4-quinone, whereas ortho-quinones could only be detected in trace amounts. Additional protein binding studies showed that only 9–22% of synthetic ortho-quinones could be recovered from microsomal incubations. In order to scavenge possible reactive quinone metabolites with glutathione (GSH) and to identify these metabolites, GSH-conjugates of naphthalene-1,2-quinone, naphthalene-1,4-quinone, chrysene-1,2-quinone, BP-7,8-quinone and BP-9,10-quinone were synthesized and spectroscopically characterized. After incubations of 1-naphthol or naphthalene with rat liver microsomes the GSH conjugate of naphthalene-1,2-quinone could be identified by cochromatography with the authentic reference compound.