While the metabolic activation of 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) by N-hydroxylation has been well documented, the relative roles of the human cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes that catalyze this reaction have not been established. Previous studies indicated that the mutagenic activation product, 2-hydroxyamino-PhIP (N2-OH-PhIP), is produced primarily by CYP1A2, and to a lesser extent by CYP1A1. We recently reported that human CYP1B1 also produces N2-OH-PhIP (Carcinogenesis, 18, 1793-1798, 1997). In the present study, we examined PhIP metabolism by microsomes containing recombinant human CYP1A1, 1A2 or 1B1 expressed in Sf9 insect cells and compared the kinetic values for PhIP metabolite formation. PhIP metabolites were analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence and absorbance detection. Vmax values for N2-OH-PhIP formation were 90, 16 and 0.2 nmol/min/nmol P450, and the apparent Km values were 79, 5.1 and 4.5 microM for human CYP1A2, 1A1 and 1B1, respectively. The non-mutagenic metabolite, 4'-hydroxy-PhIP, was also formed by all three CYP enzymes with Vmax values of 1.5, 7.8 and 0.3 nmol/ min/nmol P450 and apparent Km values of 43, 8.2 and 2.2 microM for human CYP1A2, 1A1 and 1B1, respectively. Although the Vmax for N2-OH-PhIP production was highest for CYP1A2, the catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) of CYP1A1 was greater than that of CYP1A2. These results suggest that, for humans, extrahepatic CYP1A1 may be more important than previously thought for the metabolic activation of the dietary carcinogen PhIP.