Miki Shimada, Eriko Watanabe, Yuka Iida, Kiyoshi Nagata and Yasushi Yamazoe
Division of Drug Metabolism and Molecular Toxicology, Graduate School
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Aramaki Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai
980 - 8578, Japan
Abstract: Administration of an endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide
(1 mg/kg body weight), caused decreases in hepatic sulfations of xenobiotics
in male rats through changes in the amounts of at least three forms of sulfotransferases,
ST1A1, ST1B1 and ST1C1. The time-dependent decrease was first observed with
ST1B1, followed by ST1A1 and ST1C1; and the decrease was more profound in
the levels of mRNAs than those of proteins. The decreases in their mRNAs
were, however, prevented by the pretreatment with dexamethasone. These results
suggest that the endotoxin suppresses the hepatic sulfation through a cytokine-mediated
mechanism to change individually hepatic levels of ST1A1, ST1B1 and ST1C1.
Keywords: Lipopolysaccharide, Sulfotransferase, Liver