Stereospecificity (ST) of the microsomal ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS)

The ST of MEOS for the ethanol 1R hydrogen has been variously reported as absolute, partial or absent, with free radical involvement postulated in the latter case. To determine both the ST of MEOS and the participation of free radicals in the reaction, they investigated MEOS ST using 1R[1-3H] ethanol as substrate. ST is expressed as the fraction of 3H labeling in acetaldehyde formed, relative to that in ethanol, and ranges from 0.5 to 0. Partial ST was observed using liver microsomes from both rats and hamsters; it significantly decreased after ethanol feeding. 0.1 mM desferrioxamine (dfx) did not increase ST in any of these microsomal preparations while ferric EDTA decreased it, suggesting that ethanol treatment induces a cytochrome P-450 with lower ST rather than increasing free radical involvement. This is supported by a virtual absence of ST observed in a reconstituted system containing purified hamster P-450/sub ALC/, a liver cytochrome P-450 isozyme induced in hamsters by ethanol treatment. Their results indicate that, unlike other enzymes that oxidize ethanol, MEOS has only partial ST. Thus, ST alone cannot be used as an index of free radical involvement but, when evaluated with the response of ST to dfx, it indicated that MEOS is unlikely to involve free radical attack on ethanol in solution