Metabolic chiral inversion of 2-arylpropionates in rat H4IIE and human Hep G2 hepatoma cells. Relationship to in vivo metabolism.

The inversion of 2-arylpropionic acids (2-APAs) has been investigated in vitro using rat H4IIE and human Hep G2 hepatoma cells in continuous culture. The effect of substrate concentration (15-150 micrograms/mL), cell density (1.5-12 x 10(6) cells/dish) and serum content of the culture medium (0-20%) on inversion was examined in rat H4IIE hepatoma cells using R-ibuprofen as model compound. Increasing R-ibuprofen concentrations and decreasing serum content of the medium resulted in increased inversion whereas variation of cell density had no effect. Furthermore, rat H4IIE and human Hep G2 hepatoma cells were incubated with the individual enantiomers of ibuprofen, ketoprofen and flurbiprofen under optimized culture conditions (serum-free culture medium). The elimination rate constants (kel) and fractions inverted (Fi) were determined. Although inversion occurred slowly in the tumor cells and thus long incubation periods (120 hr) were required, the hepatoma cells were nevertheless able to mimic qualitatively the species and substance specificity of inversion of 2-APAs as observed in vivo.