Propane and propylene formation during the microsomal metabolism of iproniazid and isopropylhydrazine

Both iproniazid and isopropylhydrazine were metabolized to the hydrocarbon products, propane and propylene, with nearly identical Michaelis constants and rates. This reaction appeared to be catalyzed by microsomal cytochrome P-450. Isonicotinic acid, a product of iproniazid hydrolysis by various amidases, was produced in only very small quantities, suggesting that the other amidase product, isopropylhydrazine, may not be an obligatory intermediate in the pathway of hydrocarbon formation from iproniazid. Hydrocarbon formation from iproniazid was more sensitive to inhibition in vitro by bis-p-nitrophenylphosphate (used in vivo as an amidase inhibitor) than was isopropylhydrazine. Iproniazid must be directly metabolized by cytochrome P-450 to yield propane and propylene, presumably via an azo ester intermediate which could give rise to an isopropyl radical, the chemical species presumed to be responsible for the hepatoxicity apparent after administration of large doses of iproniazid in vivo.