Effect of Capsicum Components on Liver Microsomal Cytochrome $P_{450}$ in Rat

고초(苦椒)가 백서(白鼠)의 간(肝) 마이크로좀 Cytochrome $P_{450}$에 미치는 영향(影響)

The investigation is involved with the effect of Capsicum component on the drug metabolism. To investigate the effects of Capsicum component on, in vivo, drug metabolism in rat, Capsicum acetone extract was given intraperitoneally to mice or rats. The duration of loss of righting reflex was determined as hexobarbital sleeping time in mice. Plasma hexobarbital concentration was also measured by Brodie's method. The rats were pretreated with Capsicum extract acutely or chronically. As the results, hexobarbital sleeping time and plasma hexobarbital concentration were increased by 31.2% and 12.3% in acute study, whereas were decreased by 27.5% and 23.0% in chronic study. An attempt was made to determine if there were any influences on enzyme activities in rats pretreated with Capsicum extract chronically. Microsomal fraction was isolated from rat liver and quantity of cytochrome $P_{450}$ and $b_5$ in the microsomal fraction were determined by Omura's method. It was found that the quantity of cytochome $P_{450}$ was increased by 22.4%. The results suggest that microsomal drug metabolizing enzyme may be induced by chronic administration of Capsicum component, whereas it may be inhibited by acute administration of Capsicum component.