第一章 Territrem is a tremogenic mycotoxin isolated from the chloroform extracts of rice culture of Aspergillus terreus 23-1. The previous study showed that three metabolites MA1, MAX and MA2 of territrem A (TRA) were formed in male rats, and gender difference in TRA metabolism of Wistar rats from that only MA1 formation was formed in female rats. Further study of cytochrome P450 involvement TRA metabolism suggested CYP3A1 is mainly responsible for MA1 formation and CYP3A2 is responsible for MA1, MAX, and MA2 formation. It has been reported that four metabolites of territrem B (TRB), designated as MB1, MB2, MB3, and MB4 and one metabolite of territrm C (TRC), designated as MB1, were formed from liver microsomes of both sexs Wistar rats. The metabolism of TRB and TRC related to gender difference and CYP450 family involved were not investigated. To investigate which cytochrome P450 isoforms were involved in TRB and TRC metabolism, four CYP450 isoform-specific inhibitors ( furafylline, orphenadrine, cimetidine, and troleandomycin) and antibodies against CYP1A2, CYP2B1, CYP2C11, or CYP3A2 were used. The gender difference in TRB and TRC metabolism in liver microsomes of 14-week-old male and female Wistar rats were also investigated. The following results indicated that (1) Metabolism of TRB to MB2, and metabolism of TRC to MB1 were observed in both sexes. The amounts of MB2, MB4, and MB1 formed were higher in male rats.(2) Formation of MB2, MB4, and MB1 was markedly inhibited by cimetidine and troleandomycin, but less by furafylline and orphenadrine. (3) Anti-CYP3A2 antibody markedly inhibited MB2, MB4, and MB1 formation, while antibodies against CYP1A1, CYP2B1, or CYP2C11 had little effect, and (4) Of the seven tested supersomes from baculovirus-transformed insect cells expressing rat CYP450 isoforms ( 1A1, 1A2, 2B1, 2C11, 2C12, 3A1, and 3A2), only those expressing CYP3A1 and CYP3A2 metabolized TRB and TRC. (5) The amounts of MB2, MB4, and MB1 were related to the 6