Organic solvents used for solubilization of the substrates/NCEs are known to affect the activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes. Further, this effect varies with the solvents used, the substrates and CYP450 isoforms in question. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of ten commonly used water miscible organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, acetonitrile, acetone, dimethyl sulphoxide, N,N-dimethyl formamide, dioxane and polyethylene glycol 400) on p-nitrophenol hydroxylase activity at 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% v/v concentration in rat liver microsomes. All the solvents studied showed concentration dependent inhibition of the p-nitrophenol hydroxylase activity except acetonitrile which showed activation of the activity at concentration range studied. Out of ten solvents studied, dioxane was found to be the most inhibitory solvent (inhibition >90% at 0.25% v/v concentration). Overall, solvents like dimethyl sulphoxide, dimethyl formamide and dioxane appeared to be unsuitable for characterizing p-nitrophenol hydroxylase (CYP2E1-mediated) reactions due to a high degree of inhibition. On the other hand, methanol and acetonitrile at concentrations <0.5% v/v appeared to be appropriate solvents for substrate solubilization while evaluating CYP2E1-mediated catalysis. The results of this study imply that caution should be exercised while choosing solvents for dissolution of substrate during enzyme studies in liver microsomes.
Keywords: CYP2E1; RLM and HPLC; p-nitrocatechol; p-nitrophenol.