The Role of Nitrogen Oxidation in the Excretion of Drugs and Foreign Compounds

Abstract

1. Interest in arylhydroxylamines, because of their implication in ferrihaemoglobin formation and bladder carcinoma induction, has led to numerous investigations on the role of these compounds as a route of metabolism of aromatic amines. The literature on this subject has been reviewed.

2. The metabolic pathway of N-oxidation was first shown to be of importance on the fate of certain endogenous compounds in man and animals. A brief examination of the function of these N-oxides of endogenous compounds is given.

3. Recently N-oxidation as a route of drug metabolism has gained increasing interest although the detection of N-oxides so far has been fortuitous. Published data have been correlated with recent studies on the N-oxidation of nicotine, some antihistamines and amphetamine derivatives to elucidate the factors affecting the elimination of these N-oxides.