[Benzonal--a phenobarbital-type of inducer of the mono-oxygenase system]

It has been found that the Soviet anticonvulsant drug Benzonal is an inducer of the liver cytochrome P-450 of the phenobarbital type. The drug causes formation of the cytochrome P-450 form which is immunologically identical to the phenobarbital inducible form of the hemoprotein with identical molecular mass determined with the SDS-gel electrophoresis method in PAAG. The microsomes, obtained from the rats treated with Benzonal display increased rates of metabolism of 7-pentoxiresorufin and 16 beta-hydroxylation of androstenedione which are specific substrates for the cytochrome P-450b.