Cytochrome P450 induction in feral Cricetid rodents: a review of field andlaboratory investigations

The constitutive and inducible hepatic cytochromes P450 of various feral Cr icetid rodents (family Cricetidae, comprising various New World rats and mi ce, hamsters, gerbils and voles), have been examined in a relatively limite d number of field and laboratory investigations. These studies, reviewed he rein, have employed substrates and immunochemical reagents that are diagnos tic for individual P450 subfamilies of Rattus norvegicus (the common labora tory species derived from the Norway rat, a member of the family Muridae). The results have demonstrated that the feral rodents display hepatic respon ses to prototypic CYP1A inducers (3-methylcholanthrene, beta-naphthoflavone ) similar to those displayed by R. norvegicus and Mus musculus (the common laboratory species derived from the house mouse, another member of the fami ly Muridae). At least one study has demonstrated the induction, by ethanol, of a protein immunochemically similar to CYP2E1 in a Cricetid rodent. In C ricetid rodents, phenobarbital-type inducers cause the induction of a hepat ic protein immunologically similar to that primarily induced (CYP2B) in R. norvegicus and M. musculus. The proteins induced in the Cricetid rodents, h owever, exhibit striking differences in substrate specificity, compared to the proteins induced in R. norvegicus. These results indicate that the prev iously described differences between the P450 induction responses exhibited by the commonly utilized laboratory species R. norvegicus and M. musculus (family Muridae) and the Syrian hamster and gerbil (family Cricetidae) are observed as a generality for members of the Cricetid family of rodents. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.