Water-soluble metabolites

In contrast to patterns for lipophilic secondary metabolites, water-soluble phlorotannins (i.e., polyphenolics produced by brown seaweeds) were initially reported to be more abundant in temperate than tropical Indo-Pacilic seaweeds.123-125 However, this apparent latitudinal pattern has not held when tested in additional locations in the Caribbean.126127 The paucity of phlorotannins in some tropical seaweeds was attributed to their ineffectiveness against tropical herbivores,128 30 although phlorotannins from temperate seaweeds can deter some tropical herbivores.125 Because geographic patterns of phlorotannins and their impacts on herbivores are unclear, it is difficult to determine how allocation patterns of phlorotannins relate to the ODT. 

Water solubility (polarity) is essential for excretion. Even though lipid-soluble compounds may also be excreted to primary urine, they are usually at least partially reabsorbed. The metabolites formed in the liver and extrahe-patic tissues remain free (i.e., not bound to proteins) and are, therefore, readily excreted. 

It has been established that both the 17 hydroxy androgens rind estrogens, when administered orally, are quickly converted (o water-soluble inactive metabolites by intestinal bacteria, usually by reactions at the 17 position. It is this inactivation process that is largely responsible for the low-order oral potency observed with these agents. Incorporation of an additional car-l)on atom at the 17 position should serve to make the now tertiary alcohol less susceptible to metabolic attack and thus potentially confer oral activity to these derivatives. 

In phase 1, the pollutant is converted into a more water-soluble metabolites, by oxidation, hydrolysis, hydration, or reduction. Usually, phase 1 metabolism introduces one or more hydroxyl groups. In phase 2, a water-soluble endogenous species (usually an anion) is attached to the metabolite— very commonly through a hydroxyl group introduced during phase 1. Although this scheme describes the course of most biotransformations of lipophilic xenobiotics, there can be departures from it. 

Many of the phase 1 enzymes are located in hydrophobic membrane environments. In vertebrates, they are particularly associated with the endoplasmic reticulum of the liver, in keeping with their role in detoxication. Lipophilic xenobiotics are moved to the liver after absorption from the gut, notably in the hepatic portal system of mammals. Once absorbed into hepatocytes, they will diffuse, or be transported, to the hydrophobic endoplasmic reticulum. Within the endoplasmic reticulum, enzymes convert them to more polar metabolites, which tend to diffuse out of the membrane and into the cytosol. Either in the membrane, or more extensively in the cytosol, conjugases convert them into water-soluble conjugates that are ready for excretion. Phase 1 enzymes are located mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum, and phase 2 enzymes mainly in the cytosol. 

CATABOLISM OF PYRIMIDINES PRODUCES WATER-SOLUBLE METABOLITES... 

Initially formed polar metabolites such as phenols and amines may be conjugated to water-soluble terminal metabolites that are excreted into the medium and function as an effective mechanism of detoxification. For example, pentachlorophenol and pentachlorothiophenol produced from pentachloronitrobenzene conjugated represented the major metabolites. Although the naphthalene dihydrodiol was the major metabolite produced from naphthalene, the further transformation... 

Polychaete worms belonging to the genera Nereis and Scolecolepides have extensive metabolic potential. Nereis virens is able to metabolize PCBs (McElroy and Means 1988) and a nnmber of PAHs (McElroy 1990), while N. diversicolor and Scolecolepides viridis are able to metabolize benzo[a]pyrene (Driscoll and McElroy 1996). It is worth noting that apart from excretion of the toxicant, polar, and mnch more water-soluble metabolites such as the glycosides formed from pyrene by Porcellio sp. (Larsen et al. 1998) may be mobile in the interstitial water of the sediment phase. 

The degradation of tetrachloromethane by a strain of Pseudomonas sp. presents a number of exceptional features. Although was a major product from the metabolism of CCI4, a substantial part of the label was retained in nonvolatile water-soluble residues (Lewis and Crawford 1995). The nature of these was revealed by the isolation of adducts with cysteine and A,A -dimethylethylenediamine, when the intermediates that are formally equivalent to COClj and CSClj were trapped—presumably formed by reaction of the substrate with water and a thiol, respectively. Further examination of this strain classified as Pseudomonas stutzeri strain KC has illuminated novel details of the mechanism. The metabolite pyridine-2,6-dithiocarboxylic acid (Lee et al. 1999) plays a key role in the degradation. Its copper complex produces trichloromethyl and thiyl radicals, and thence the formation of CO2, CS2, and COS (Figure 7.64) (Lewis et al. 2001). 

Buprofezin and its metabolites, p-OH-buprofezin and BF12, are hydrophobic under neutral conditions. Having the organic base part in their chemical structure, these compounds form water-soluble salts under strongly acidic conditions. The change in solubilities of these compounds influences the cleanup procedure. Four different residue analytical methods have been developed to measure buprofezin and its metabolites in plants (rice, citrus and tomato cucumber, pepper, tomato, squash and eggplant), soil and water ... 

After absorption, OC compounds are rapidly distributed and accumulate in high-fat-content tissues the degree of accumulation is inversely related to the rate of biotransformation into water-soluble metabolites. The biological half-lives range from a minimum value of 24 hr for lindane, to 1 year for dieldrin, to 3-4 years for DDT (Tordoir and Van Sittert, 1994). 

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