Further characterization of the pulmonary ethanol metabolizing system (PET)

A postmitochondrial preparation of rat lung homogenate was able to metabolize ethanol (205.8 mumoles/g X hr) only in the presence of uridine diphosphate glucuroniate, with a Km for ethanol of about 14 mM. Lung slices from the same animals incubated in a Krebs ringer bicarbonate buffer showed a biphasic time-curve for ethanol metabolism. The amount of metabolized ethanol first increased and then decreased. The metabolic product of this system (PET-I) was sensitive to the action of betaglucuronidase. Lung slices from some animals, however, showed a monophasic time-curve for ethanol metabolism. The metabolic product of this system (PET-II) was insensitive to the action of beta-glucuronidase but sensitive to that of sulfatase. These results confirm our previous suggestion that the lung of the rat is able to metabolize ethanol by a conjugation process catalyzed by a glucuronyl-transferase. In addition, the evidence obtained in this work also suggests that in some animals PET is represented by a sulfotransferase.