Deuterium isotope effect on the metabolism of the flame retardant tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate in the isolated perfused rat liver

The metabolism of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (Tris-BP) was compared with that of completely deuterated Tris-BP (D15-Tris-BP) in an isolated, recirculating rat liver perfusion system in order to determine the relative quantitative importance of two different biotransformation pathways of Tris-BP: (i) cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism and (ii) GSH S-transferase-mediated metabolism. To accomplish this we quantitated the biliary excretion of S-(3-hydroxypropyl)glutathione (GSOH) as a marker metabolite for cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism and that of S-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) glutathione (GSOHOH) as a marker metabolite for GSH S-transferase-mediated metabolism. Complete deuterium substitution of Tris-BP significantly decreased the formation of GSOH, whereas there was no effect on the formation of GSOHOH. Because our previous studies showed a large decrease in genotoxicity of D15-Tris-BP compared to Tris-BP, the present results support our hypothesis that cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism is responsible for the genotoxic effects of Tris-BP in the rat liver.