A Note on Discrimination Between Carbon Monoxide as a Metabolite of Carbon Tetrachloride and as a Degradation Product of the Biological Material

Abstract

Carbon monoxide has now been identified as a metabolite of a number of foreign compounds, including tetrahalogenomethanes [1]3 trihalogenomethanes [2], trichloroethylene [3] and methylenedioxyphenyl compounds [5]. It is produced as a result of interactions with cytochrome P-450 of the microsomal monooxygenase enzyme system of liver. In several instances, and particularly with CCl₄, the metabolic inactivation by cytochrome P-450 results in loss of haem and initiation of lipid peroxidative damage of the microsomal membranes. Both haem degradation and lipid peroxidation are possible sources of CO, and consequently there is an analytical problem in distinguishing between CO produced as a metabolite of the foreign compound and that which arises from degradation of the biological components.