Abstract
The influence of Ebselen, an organoselenium anti-inflammatory agent, on the two electron transport chains present in rat liver microsomes has been studied. At low micromolar concentrations, Ebselen markedly inhibited the flow of reducing equivalents from NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase to both its natural electron acceptor, cytochrome P450, and its artificial electron acceptor, cytochrome
c. Similarly, the microsomal NADH-cytochrome
c reductase system consisting of cytochrome
b
5 and its flavoprotein, NADH-cytochrome
b
5 reductase, was also significantly inhibited by Ebselen. The inhibition appears to be due to the inability of the reduced pyridine nucleotide to transfer electrons to the flavin (FAD and/or FMN) in the flavoprotein reductase. This was shown with the purified NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, which in the presence of Ebselen was not converted to the semiquinone form following the addition of NADPH. The addition of Ebselen to a suspension of hepatic microsomes from either untreated or phenobarbital-treated rats did not result in any spectral change characteristic of type I, type II, or reverse type I.