Dietary fat inhibits the intestinal metabolism of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene in fish

Following the intestinal absorption of dietary benzo[a]pyrene (BP) by the killifish, this compound becomes incorporated along with dietary triglycerides into membrane-bound fat vacuoles within the intestinal epithelial cell (1985. J. Lipid Res. 26: 428-434). These vacuoles, arising from the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, are important transient structures involved in both the uptake and metabolism of dietary BP and, presumably, other lipophilic toxicants as well. In the present study we used subcellular fractions isolated from the intestines of spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), a teleost fish, to study factors that influence the metabolism of BP in a fat vacuole/microsomal system. Triglyceride-solubilized BP is capable of diffusion from fat vacuoles to microsomal enzymes. Increases in the concentration of fat vacuoles decrease the availability of BP to microsomal BP hydroxylase. The effect of fat vacuoles on the activity of BP hydroxylase becomes more pronounced as the concentration of BP in our test system decreases. Addition of cytosolic glutathione transferases to the fat vacuole/microsomal system enhances the activity of BP hydroxylase. Examination of binding of 3H-labeled BP to killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) intestinal cytosolic proteins in vivo indicated that a large fraction of the radioactivity was associated within glutathione transferase. These results suggest that dietary fat inhibits metabolism of low levels of BP in the intestine. A consequence of this would be greater exposure of peripheral tissues to dietary carcinogens.