Effect of glucose administration on various rat hepatic constituents and on the spectral binding of hexobarbital and methadone to rat hepatic cytochrome P450

The administration of glucose to rats for 48 h resulted in an increase in the duration of anesthesia produced by intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital. The effect of this glucose treatment on hepatic glycogen and on microsomal protein, cytochrome P450 (P450), cholesterol, lipid and phospholipid content, as well as on the spectral binding of hexobarbital and methadone to microsomal P450, was examined. The glucose treatment appeared to have no effect on microsomal protein or P450 content. The binding of hexobarbital and methadone by P450 produced a type 1 spectrum in both control and glucose-treated animals. The glucose treatment resulted in a decrease in the spectral dissociation constant (K(s)) and in the maximal spectral binding (ΔA(max)) of hexobarbital to P450 while with methadone there was an increase in K(s) and a decrease in ΔA(max). Total lipid, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were increased in the microsomal fractions from glucose-treated animals. The changes in the parameters for drug binding to microsomal P450 probably relate to the increased lipid content of the microsomes although changes in the proportion of P450 isoenzymes could be involved. The previously observed decrease in the microsomal metabolism of hexobarbital and methadone following glucose treatment may be due to decreased binding of these compounds to microsomal P450.