3,5-Diethoxycarbonyl-2,6-dimethyl-4-ethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine inactivates rat liver cytochrome P-450c, but not its orthologue, rabbit lung form 6.

Various rat liver cytochrome P-450 (P-450) isozymes are targets for mechanism-based inactivation by 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-2,6-dimethyl-4-ethyl-1,4- dihydropyridine (4-ethyl DDC). Unlike rat liver, which contains multiple P-450 isozymes, rabbit lung contains only three major isozymes referred to as forms 2, 5, and 6. We have examined the ability of 4-ethyl DDC to destroy P-450 heme in hepatic and pulmonary microsomes from untreated and beta-naphthoflavone (beta NF)-treated rabbits. This compound destroyed 31% of the P-450 in either hepatic microsomal preparation, but was ineffective at lowering P-450 and heme levels in pulmonary microsomes when examined at a range of concentrations (0.45-5.0 mM). These data suggest that rabbit pulmonary P-450 forms 2, 5, and 6 are not targets for destruction by 4-ethyl DDC, despite the ability of this compound to inactivate rat liver P-450c, the orthologue of rabbit lung form 6.