Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.2.1.31 (beta-glucuronidase)
 7,680 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Quercetin is highly mutagenic in vitro, yet is not carcinogenic when administered chronically at large doses to rodents for 12 months. We hypothesized that catechol-O-methyltransferase-catalyzed O-methylation of quercetin and other mutagenic catechol-containing flavonoids may provide an efficient inactivation in vivo and may therefore prevent tumor induction by these flavonoids. After one intraperitoneal administration of 50 mg/kg quercetin to hamsters, a urinary ether extract contained 2% quercetin and 97% 3'-O-methylquercetin. When the urine was treated first with beta-glucuronidase and sulfatase, 13% quercetin and 87% 3'-O-methylquercetin were recovered. Quercetin was rapidly O-methylated by either porcine liver or hamster kidney catechol-O-methyltransferase, with Km values of 6.1 and 6.9 microM and Vmax values of 14,870 and 200 pmol/mg of protein/min, respectively. S-Adenosyl-L-homocysteine exhibited a potent feedback inhibition of the catechol-O-methyltransferase-catalyzed O-methylation of quercetin by a competitive mechanism with respect to S-adenosyl-L-methionine and by a competitive plus noncompetitive mechanism with respect to the substrate. A comparison of the O-methylation rates and kinetic characteristics (Km, Vmax, and Vmax/Km) demonstrated that rates of O-methylation of quercetin and fisetin were up to three orders of magnitude higher than those of catechol estrogens and catecholamines. In conclusion, the rapid metabolic inactivation of mutagenic flavonoids catalyzed by catechol-O-methyltransferase may be a major reason for the lack of their carcinogenic activities in vivo.
 ...
PMID:Catechol-O-methyltransferase-catalyzed rapid O-methylation of mutagenic flavonoids. Metabolic inactivation as a possible reason for their lack of carcinogenicity in vivo. 827 10

Quercetin-3- and quercetin-7-glucuronides are major products of small intestine epithelial cell metabolism (J. Nutr. 130 (2000) 2765) but it is not known if quercetin glucuronides can be further processed in the liver or if they are excreted directly. Using the HepG2 hepatic cell model, we show that highly purified quercetin-7- and quercetin-3-glucuronides can follow two pathways of metabolism: (i) methylation of the catechol functional group of both quercetin glucuronides (44% of quercetin-7-glucuronide at a rate of 2.6 nmol/hr/10(6) cells, and 32% of quercetin-3-glucuronide at a rate of 1.9 nmol/hr/10(6) cells, over 48 hr) or (ii) hydrolysis of the glucuronide by endogenous beta-glucuronidase followed by sulfation to quercetin-3'-sulfate (7% of quercetin-7-glucuronide at a rate of 0.42 nmol/hr/10(6) cells and 10% of quercetin-3-glucuronide at a rate of 0.61 nmol/hr/10(6) cells, over 48 hr). In contrast, quercetin-4'-glucuronide was not metabolised, and interestingly this is not a major product of the small intestine absorption process. The conversion of the quercetin-7- and quercetin-3-glucuronide to the mono-sulfate conjugate shows intracellular deglucuronidation by beta-glucuronidase activity, allowing transient contact of the free aglycone with the cellular environment. Inhibition of methylation using a catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor shifted metabolism towards sulfation, as indicated by an increase in quercetin-3'-sulfate formation (increase in rate to 1.13 and 1.43 nmol/hr/10(6) cells for quercetin-7-glucuronide and quercetin-3-glucuronide, respectively). Efflux of quercetin metabolites from HepG2 cells (methylated glucuronide and sulfate conjugates) was not altered by verapamil, a p-glycoprotein inhibitor, but efflux was competitively inhibited by MK-571, a multidrug resistant protein inhibitor, indicating a role for multidrug resistant protein in the efflux of quercetin conjugates from HepG2 cells. These results show that HepG2 cells can absorb and turnover quercetin glucuronides and that human endogenous beta-glucuronidase activity could modulate the intracellular biological activities of dietary antioxidant flavonoids.
 ...
PMID:Metabolism of quercetin-7- and quercetin-3-glucuronides by an in vitro hepatic model: the role of human beta-glucuronidase, sulfotransferase, catechol-O-methyltransferase and multi-resistant protein 2 (MRP2) in flavonoid metabolism. 1252 41