Extra- and intracellular free iron and the carotid body responses

Research advances on molecular mechanism and natural product therapy of iron metabolism in heart failure

The progression of heart failure (HF) is complex and involves multiple regulatory pathways. Iron ions play a crucial supportive role as a cofactor for important proteins such as hemoglobin, myoglobin, oxidative respiratory chain, and DNA synthetase, in the myocardial energy metabolism process. In recent years, numerous studies have shown that HF is associated with iron dysmetabolism, and deficiencies in iron and overload of iron can both lead to the development of various myocarditis diseases, which ultimately progress to HF. Iron toxicity and iron metabolism may be key targets for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of HF. Some iron chelators (such as desferrioxamine), antioxidants (such as ascorbate), Fer-1, and molecules that regulate iron levels (such as lactoferrin) have been shown to be effective in treating HF and protecting the myocardium in multiple studies. Additionally, certain natural compounds can play a significant role by mediating the imbalance of iron-related signaling pathways and expression levels. Therefore, this review not only summarizes the basic processes of iron metabolism in the body and the mechanisms by which they play a role in HF, with the aim of providing new clues and considerations for the treatment of HF, but also summarizes recent studies on natural chemical components that involve ferroptosis and its role in HF pathology, as well as the mechanisms by which naturally occurring products regulate ferroptosis in HF, with the aim of providing reference information for the development of new ferroptosis inhibitors and lead compounds for the treatment of HF in the future.

The Ventilatory Response to Hypoxia in Mammals: Mechanisms, Measurement, and Analysis

The respiratory response to hypoxia in mammals develops from an inhibition of breathing movements in utero into a sustained increase in ventilation in the adult. This ventilatory response to hypoxia (HVR) in mammals is the subject of this review. The period immediately after birth contains a critical time window in which environmental factors can cause long-term changes in the structural and functional properties of the respiratory system, resulting in an altered HVR phenotype. Both neonatal chronic and chronic intermittent hypoxia, but also chronic hyperoxia, can induce such plastic changes, the nature of which depends on the time pattern and duration of the exposure (acute or chronic, episodic or not, etc.). At adult age, exposure to chronic hypoxic paradigms induces adjustments in the HVR that seem reversible when the respiratory system is fully matured. These changes are orchestrated by transcription factors of which hypoxia-inducible factor 1 has been identified as the master regulator. We discuss the mechanisms underlying the HVR and its adaptations to chronic changes in ambient oxygen concentration, with emphasis on the carotid bodies that contain oxygen sensors and initiate the response, and on the contribution of central neurotransmitters and brain stem regions. We also briefly summarize the techniques used in small animals and in humans to measure the HVR and discuss the specific difficulties encountered in its measurement and analysis.

Iron chelation and the ventilatory response to hypoxia

Chelation of iron in in vitro carotid body emulates the effects of hypoxia. The role iron plays in in vivo ventilatory responses is unclear. In the current study we addressed this issue by examining the effects of chronic iron chelation on the hypoxic ventilatory response in 9 conscious Wistar rats. Acute responses to 14 and 9% O(2)in N(2) were recorded in the same rat before and then after 7 and 14 days of continuous iron chelation. Iron chelation was carried out with ciclopirox olamine (CPX) in a dose of 20 mg/kg daily, i.p. Ventilation was recorded with whole body plethysmography. We found that the peak hypoxic ventilation (V(E) achieved during 14 and 9% hypoxia was lower by 239.6+/-55.4(SE) and 269.6.2+/-69.2 ml min(-1)kg(-1), respectively, in the rats treated with CPX for 7 days. The decreases were not intensified by a longer duration of iron chelation. CPX failed to alter hypoxic sensitivity, assessed from the gain of peak V(E) with increasing strength of the hypoxic stimulus. In conclusion, we believe we have shown that iron is operational in shaping the hypoxic ventilatory response, but is not liable to be the underlying determinant of the hypoxic chemoreflex.

An atypical active cell death process underlies the fungicidal activity of ciclopirox olamine against the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ciclopirox olamine (CPO), a fungicidal agent widely used in clinical practice, induced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae an active cell death (ACD) process characterized by changes in nuclear morphology and chromatin condensation associated with the appearance of a population in the sub-G(0)/G(1) cell cycle phase and an arrest delay in the G(2)/M phases. This ACD was associated neither with intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling, as revealed by the use of different classes of ROS scavengers, nor with a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive phenotype. Furthermore, CPO-induced cell death seems to be dependent on unknown protease activity but independent of the apoptotic regulators Aif1p and Yca1p and of autophagic pathways involving Apg5p, Apg8p and Uth1p. Our results show that CPO triggers in S. cerevisiae an atypical nonapoptotic, nonautophagic ACD with as yet unknown regulators.

Desferrioxamine enhances hypoxic ventilatory response and induces tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression in the rat brainstem in vivo

The iron chelator desferrioxamine (DFO) induces accumulation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1), a transcription factor that up-regulates genes involved in adaptative responses to hypoxia. This property makes DFO a potential neuroprotector against hypoxic stress. We investigated in rats the effects of DFO on the ventilatory response to mild hypoxic tests and the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), a target gene of HIF-1. Two protocols were used, the first with repeated injections of 50 mg/kg DFO every 2 days during a 2-week period. This was aimed at define the time course of the ventilatory responses to a hypoxic test. In the second protocol, rats were given a single injection of 300 mg/kg DFO. Every day over 4 days, the hypoxic ventilatory response was recorded before the animal was sacrificed, and Western blot analysis of TH in the dorsal brainstem cardiorespiratory area was performed. DFO produced a delayed increase in the hypoxic ventilatory response, which appeared in the same time window as TH up-regulation (2-3 days after the bolus injection of DFO). This delay suggests a genic effect of the drug that improves the ventilatory response to hypoxia.

Effects of iron-chelators on ion-channels and HIF-1α in the carotid body

Acute hypoxia instantaneously increases the chemosensory discharge from the carotid body, increasing ventilation mostly by inhibiting the oxygen sensitive ion channels and exciting the mitochondrial functions in the glomus cells. On the other hand, Fe2+-chelation mimics hypoxia by inhibiting the prolyl hydroxylases and the degradation of HIF-1alpha in non-excitable cells. Whether Fe2+-chelation can inhibit the ion channels giving rise to the sensory responses in excitable cells was the question. We characterized the responses to Fe2+-chelators on excitable glomus cells of the rat, and found that they instantaneously blocked the ion-channels, exciting the chemosensory discharge, and later causing a gradual accumulation of HIF-1alpha. Although initiated by the same stimuli, the two effects (on ion channels and cytosolic HIF-1alpha) possibly occurred by two different mechanisms.