Nitroarenes are environmental contaminants produced during incomplete combustion processes. Nitroreduction, the most important pathway of nitroarene toxification, occurs mainly in the liver and intestine. In the present study, we show that human red cells may also possess the metabolic competence to reduce 1-nitropyrene (NP) and 3-nitrofluoranthene (NF), the nitroarenes chosen as model compounds, to their corresponding amino derivatives, 1-aminopyrene (AP) and 3-aminofluoranthene (AF). The requirement of the cofactor couple NADH/FMN suggests that erythrocyte nitroreductase activity occurs via one electron transfer. The presence of oxygen strongly inhibited the haemolysate-catalyzed nitroarene reduction, whether measured as amine formation or nitroarene disappearance. Intermediate reactive species, that bind covalently to haemoglobin and/or other erythrocyte proteins, are formed during nitroreduction catalyzed by human haemolysate. In fact, the reduced metabolites AP and AF were released after mild acid hydrolysis of red cell proteins exposed to NP and NF, thus suggesting that sulphinamide adducts have been formed.
