Induction of hepatic cytochrome P-450 and xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes in rats gavaged with an Alberta crude oil

Changes in body weight gain and in biochemical parameters of blood and liver were assessed in Sprague-Dawley rats after multiple oral administration of three test doses of an Alberta crude oil (ACO). Rats treated with ACO (1.25-5 ml/kg) did not show statistically significant (p greater than .05) differences from control, corn-oil treated (5 ml/kg) rats, in body weight gains, liver weight, and blood biochemical indicators of liver (alanine aminotransferase, gamma glutamyltransferase), kidney (blood urea nitrogen, creatinine), and erythrocyte (adenosine 5'-triphosphate, 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid, reduced glutathione) cytotoxicity. Treatment with ACO, however, caused statistically significant (p less than .05) and dose-related increases from control in (1) microsomal protein and cytochrome P-450 content, and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH), and 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase (7-ECOD) activities, and (2) cytosolic glutathione transferase activity of liver. The induction of hepatic cytochrome P-450 and xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in microsomes of ACO-treated rats was probably associated with dose-related changes in isozymic forms of cytochrome P-450, as evidenced by (1) appearance of a 448-nm spectral peak in microsomes of ACO-treated rats and (2) differences in the inhibition pattern of AHH and 7-ECOD activities in microsomes of control and ACO-treated rats upon treatment with metyrapone and 7,8-benzoflavone.