ABSTRACT:In this study we describe a battery of fluorescence assays for rapid measurement in intact cells of the activity of nine cytochromes P450 (P450s) involved in drug metabolism. The assays are based on the direct incubation of monolayers of cells expressing individual P450 enzymes with a fluorogenic substrate followed by fluorimetric quantification of the product formed and released into incubation medium. For each individual P450 activity, different fluorescence probes were examined, and the one showing the best properties (highest metabolic rates, lowest background fluorescence) was selected: 3-cyano-7-ethoxycoumarin for CYP1A2 and CYP2C19, coumarin for CYP2A6, 7-ethoxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin for CYP2B6, dibenzylfluorescein for CYP2C8, 7-methoxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin ( Drug metabolism is one of the major determinants of drug clearance and the factor that is most frequently responsible for the interindividual differences in drug pharmacokinetics. Inappropriate pharmacokinetics result in an inadequate or variable clinical response of the drug that frequently compromises its therapeutic usage. Cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes are major players in the oxidative metabolism of a wide range of structurally diverse xenobiotics including drugs. In the past two decades, thanks to the use of purified enzymes, the identification of selective substrates/ inhibitors, and the application of recombinant DNA technology to P450 genes, great progress has been made in the characterization of the role of human P450s in the metabolism of therapeutic agents. To speed up the selection of new drug candidates, pharmaceutical industries increasingly make use of different in vitro systems to investigate drug metabolism. As a result of this, it is now possible to identify the metabolic profile of drug candidates, potential drug interactions, or the role of polymorphic enzymes before clinical trials start, resulting in more cost-effective and ethically acceptable studies (Rodrigues, 1999).The large number of chemicals to be tested has created a need for high-throughput methods for screening of compounds for favorable metabolic properties in drug discovery. Among the different in vitro models developed for drug metabolism studies, recombinant P450 systems are now increasingly used (Masimirembwa et al., 1999;Rodrigues, 1999;Yoshitomi et al., 2001). P450 enzymes heterologously expressed in different cells show catalytic properties comparable with those of human liver microsomes (Gonzalez and Korzekwa, 1995;Masimirembwa et al., 1999). These enzymes can be produced in large amounts to meet the increasing demand of screening models for drug metabolism research. Metabolism of the new molecule can be easily examined after incubation with each P450-expressing system separately, helping to elucidate the metabolic pathways of the compound. The correct interpretation of kinetic data from cDNA-expression systems requires the confirmation of their metabolic competence. Therefore, measurement of individual P450 activities is needed for each ex...