Comparison of DT-diaphorases purified from the liver cytosol of untreated, and 3,4,5,3',4'-pentachlorobiphenyl- and 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rats

DT-Diaphorase purified from the liver cytosol of rats treated with a highly toxic PCB congener, 3,4,5,3',4'-pentachlorobiphenyl (PenCB), was compared to those from 3-methylcholanthrene (MC)-treated and untreated rats. Treatments with PenCB and MC resulted in about 8- and 7-fold increases of cytosolic DT-diaphorase activity, respectively. Purification of the enzyme preparations from untreated, and PenCB- and MC-treated rats were conducted by using DE-52, DEAE-Sephadex A-50, hydroxylapatite, and Bio-Gel P-150 column chromatographies. Both Sephadex G-100 gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that all of the final preparations from the three origins were homogeneous and had the same molecular weight of 59,000, consisting of two subunits with molecular weights of 30,000. Further studies on amino acid composition, Km value, optimum pH, and catalytic activities for various substrates also indicated that both PenCB- and MC-inducible DT-diaphorases were identical with that from the untreated rats. All three DT-diaphorases contained about 2 mol of FAD per mol of enzyme. Partial digestion of the enzymes by trypsin and subsequent analysis by HPLC revealed that the three preparations were indistinguishable. The identity among the three purified DT-diaphorases was finally confirmed by Ouchterlony immunodiffusion employing anti-serum raised against each enzyme preparation.