Effect of Different Detergent Systems on the Molecular Size of UDP Glucuronosyltransferase and Other Microsomal Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes

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Abstract
Mouse liver microsomes were solubilized in various detergent systems, and the resulting aggregate structures associated with cytochrome P-450, cytochrome c reductase, and UDP glucuronosyltransferase were sized by gel filtration chromatography. Cholate or its derivative, CHAPS, in combination with Emulgen 911 or Lubrol 12A9 were necessary to generate a particle of about 140 k daltons, the smallest structure associated with cytochrome P-450. Cholate or CHAPS alone was sufficient to generate a minimally sized aggregate of 200 k daltons associated with NADPH cytochrome c reductase activity. Cholate in combination with Emulgen 911 or Lubrol 12A9 generated particles of about 280 k daltons associated with UDP glucuronosyltransferase activity. CHAPS alone also generated similarly sized particles under conditions in which UDP glucuronosyltransferase activity toward 1-naphthol and morphine was two to about twenty times greater, respectively, than with the combination of detergents. This finding suggests that the zwitterionic CHAPS is superior to other detergent systems for studies concerned with the purification of transferase enzymes, a microsomal system in which investigation of the number of different forms has been hampered by the instability of the enzyme upon solubilization and subsequent manipulation.