Sulfotransferases（SULTs） are one of the most important phase II drug-metabolizing enzymes. Among them, aryl sulfotransferases（SULT1A1） and estrogen sulfotransferase（EST, SULT1E1） belong to the rSULT1 family that catalyzes sulfation of phenolic compounds. Dopamine（DA） acts as a vital neurotransmitter in central nervous system（CNS） and regulates a variety of activities in periphery. In our study, we aim to detect the effects of exogenous DA and levodopa（L-DOPA） on rSULTs（rSULT1A1 and rSULT1E1） in rat liver. In order to achieve this target, varying doses of DA（0, 2, 10 and 100 mg/kg/d） and L-DOPA（0, 5, 25 and 125 mg/kg/d） were provided to male and female rats, respectively. Real-time PCR assay and western blot were used in the determination of the mRNA and protein expression of rSULTs. PNPS assay and radioactivity assay were applied to the detection of enzyme activity of rSULT1A1 and rSULT1E1, respectively. Our results showed that DA induced the expression and activity of rSULT1A1 in the liver of male and female rats and DA had little effect on rSULT1E1. However, L-DOPA caused no evident change of rSULT1A1 in both sex and had no significant effect on rSULT1E1 in female rat liver, but increased rSULT1E1 expression and activity only in male rat liver when administered at high dose. Our results suggest that DA plays different roles in the regulation of rSULT1A1 and rSULT1E1 when it is in periphery or in the CNS.
