Bioactivation of myelotoxic xenobiotics by human neutrophil myeloperoxidase

Many environmental pollutants and drugs are toxic to the bone marrow. Some of these xenobiotics may initiate toxicity after undergoing bioactivation to free radicals and/or other reactive electrophiles. Peroxidases are a group of enzymes that catalyze the one-electron oxidative bioactivation of a variety of xenobiotics in vitro. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a peroxidative enzyme found in very high concentration in the neutrophils of human bone marrow. In this study, human MPO was evaluated to determine its ability to catalyze the in vitro bioactivation of known bone marrow toxicants that contain the aromatic hydroxyl (Ar-OH), aromatic amine (Ar-N-R2), or heterocyclic tertiary amine (double-bond N-R) moieties. The formation of free radical metabolites during the MPO-catalyzed bioactivation of hydroquinone and catechol (benzene metabolites), mitoxantrone and ametantrone (antitumor drugs), and chlorpromazine and promazine (antipsychotic drugs) was demonstrated by EPR spectroscopy. The reactivity of the products formed during the MPO catalyzed bioactivation of [14C]hydroquinone and [14C]catechol was shown by their covalent binding to protein and DNA in vitro. The covalently binding metabolite in each case is postulated to be the quinone form of the xenobiotic. In addition, both GSH and NADH were oxidized by the reactive intermediate(s) formed during the MPO-catalyzed bioactivation of many of the bone marrow toxicants tested. It was also shown that p,p-biphenol stimulated the MPO catalyzed bioactivation of both hydroquinone and catechol, while p-cresol stimulated the MPO-catalyzed bioactivation of catechol