Hen liver and plasma can metabolize hexyl-DCP phosphoramidate at a rate comparable to that of rat

The in vitro and in vivo biochemical properties of O-hexyl, O-dichlorophenyl phosphoramidate (hexyl-DCP) as inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and neuropathy target esterase (NTE) were studied, as well as their neurotoxic effects. The differences found were suggested to be due to biotransformation effects. In this work, the in vitro time-dependent degradation of hexyl-DCP by plasma, liver and brain homogenates of rat and hen at 37°C at pH 7.4 are studied using 100 nM initial concentration. The loss of inhibitory potency against AChE was used as sensor of the biodegradation rate. An approximate estimation of the residual compound was made by comparison with an inhibition calibration curve. The rate of enzymatic degradation was corrected for the spontaneous hydrolysis. Rat tissues showed some higher activities (24, 17, 1 mU/g for plasma, liver, and brain, respectively) than hen (17, 6, 1 mU/g), with activities being highest for plasma and lowest for brain. Hexyl-DCP is a chiral compound. The loss of anti-AChE power could be due to degradation of only one of the two stereoisomers.