Biotransformations of Antidiabetic Vanadium Prodrugs in Mammalian Cells and Cell Culture Media: A XANES Spectroscopic Study

[Image: see text] The antidiabetic activities of vanadium(V) and -(IV) prodrugs are determined by their ability to release active species upon interactions with components of biological media. The first X-ray absorption spectroscopic study of the reactivity of typical vanadium (V) antidiabetics, vanadate ([V(V)O(4)](3–), A) and a vanadium(IV) bis(maltolato) complex (B), with mammalian cell cultures has been performed using HepG2 (human hepatoma), A549 (human lung carcinoma), and 3T3-L1 (mouse adipocytes and preadipocytes) cell lines, as well as the corresponding cell culture media. X-ray absorption near-edge structure data were analyzed using empirical correlations with a library of model vanadium(V), -(IV), and -(III) complexes. Both A and B ([V] = 1.0 mM) gradually converged into similar mixtures of predominantly five- and six-coordinate V(V) species (∼75% total V) in a cell culture medium within 24 h at 310 K. Speciation of V in intact HepG2 cells also changed with the incubation time (from ∼20% to ∼70% V(IV) of total V), but it was largely independent of the prodrug used (A or B) or of the predominant V oxidation state in the medium. Subcellular fractionation of A549 cells suggested that V(V) reduction to V(IV) occurred predominantly in the cytoplasm, while accumulation of V(V) in the nucleus was likely to have been facilitated by noncovalent bonding to histone proteins. The nuclear V(V) is likely to modulate the transcription process and to be ultimately related to cell death at high concentrations of V, which may be important in anticancer activities. Mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes (unlike for preadipocytes) showed a higher propensity to form V(IV) species, despite the prevalence of V(V) in the medium. The distinct V biochemistry in these cells is consistent with their crucial role in insulin-dependent glucose and fat metabolism and may also point to an endogenous role of V in adipocytes.