Recent studies have indicated that CYP3A4 exhibits non-Michae
lis-Menten kinetics fornumerous substrates. Both homo- and heterotropic activation have been reported, and kinetic mode
lshave suggested mu
ltip
le substrates within the active site. We provide some of the first physicochemica
ldata supporting the hypothesis of a
llosteric substrate binding within the CYP3A4 active site. Midazo
lam(MDZ) is metabo
lized by CYP3A4 to two hydroxy
lated metabo
lites, 1'- and 4-hydroxymidazo
lam.Incubations using purified CYP3A4 and MDZ showed that both
lpha.gif" BORDER=0>-naphthof
lavone (
lpha.gif" BORDER=0>-NF) and testosteroneaffect the ratio of formation rates of 1'- and 4-hydroxymidazo
lam. Simi
lar to previous reports,
lpha.gif" BORDER=0>-NF wasfound to promote formation of 1'-hydroxymidazo
lam, whi
le testosterone stimu
lated formation of4-hydroxymidazo
lam. NMR was used to measure the c
losest approach of individua
l MDZ protons to theparamagnetic heme iron of CYP3A4 using paramagnetic
T1 re
laxation measurements. So
lutions of 0.2
M CYP3A4 with 500
M MDZ resu
lted in ca
lcu
lated distances between 7.4 and 8.3 Å for a
ll monitoredMDZ protons. The distances were statistica
lly equiva
lent for a
ll protons except C3-H and were consistentwith the rotation within the active site or s
liding para
lle
l to the heme p
lane. When 50
M
lpha.gif" BORDER=0>-NF wasadded, proton-heme iron distances ranged from 7.3 to 10.0 Å. Consistent with kinetics of activation, the1' position was situated c
losest to the heme, whi
le the f
luoropheny
l 5-H proton was the furthest. Proton-heme iron distances for MDZ with CYP3A4 and 50
M testosterone ranged from 7.7 to 9.0 Å, with thef
louropheny
l 5-H proton furthest from the heme iron and the C4-H c
losest to the heme, a
lso consistentwith kinetic observations. When titrated with CYP3A4 in the presence of MDZ, testosterone and
lpha.gif" BORDER=0>-NFresonances themse
lves exhibited significant broadening and enhanced re
laxation rates, indicating that theseeffector mo
lecu
les were a
lso bound within the CYP3A4 active site near the paramagnetic heme iron.These resu
lts suggest that the effector exerts its cooperative effects on MDZ metabo
lism throughsimu
ltaneous binding of MDZ and effector near the CYP3A4 heme.