To explore which rat liver cytochrome P-450 species are involved in aldrin epoxidation, we have studied the catalytic activities of a series of cytochrome P-450 isozymes purified from untreated and inducer-treated Sprague-Dawley rats. Of ten cytochrome P-450 forms analyzed, seven isozymes, listed in order of decreasing activity, catalyzed aldrin epoxidation: P-450UT-A, P-450PB-C, P-450UT-H, P-450PB-B, P-450PCN-E, P-450UT-F, and P-450PB-D. P-450UT-I, P-450BNF-B, and P-450ISF-G were not very active at all. A novel aldrin metabolite, endo-dieldrin, was formed by cytochrome P-450UT-F in a 6-fold excess over dieldrin, which is the exo-isomer. The activity of aldrin epoxidase furthermore was assayed in liver microsomes from Sprague-Dawley rats of diverse physiological status and after pretreatment with various inducers resulting in a peculiar pattern of cytochrome P-450 isozymes. Untreated animals, at an age of 3 weeks, showed similar enzyme activities in both genders. During maturation, the activity of males increased by 3-fold, while the activity in females did not significantly change during this period. Pretreatment with pregnenolone-16-alpha-carbonitrile or dexamethasone strongly increased the activity in females. Pretreatment with dexamethasone did not increase the activity of males. A 50% depression of epoxidase activity was noted for males pretreated with 5,6-benzoflavone. Phenobarbital pretreatment increased the activity of females by 12-fold and of males by 2-fold. Males responded to pretreatment with polychlorinated biphenyls in a strain dependent fashion: enzyme activity was increased 2-fold in Sprague-Dawley rats but was not altered in Wistar rats. "Theoretical" values of microsomal epoxidase activity were calculated for weanling and adult Sprague-Dawley rats from turnover numbers and published data on the relative abundance of aldrin epoxidizing P-450 isozymes (Waxmann et al., Biochemistry 24, 4409, 1985). These values agreed with the activities determined. A similar statement can be made for male rats of both strains pretreated with inducers, when the ratio of enzyme activity of pretreated to control animals was used as a basis of comparison. The activity ratio of females pretreated with pregnenolone-16-alpha-carbonitrile, dexamethasone and phenobarbital, however, was much higher than the ratio calculated. Our results reveal that aldrin epoxidation is a reaction indicative of male specific and of phenobarbital-inducible cytochrome P-450 isozymes in rat liver.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)