Heme oxygenase-2 expression at rat neuromuscular junctions

Carbon monoxide: endogenous mediator, potential diagnostic and therapeutic target

The primary objectives of this article are to review the potential role of carbon monoxide (CO) as an endogenous mediator, diagnostic marker for pulmonary disorders, and therapeutic target in critical illness. The review will start by focusing on the importance of the heme oxygenase (HO)-CO axis as an endogenous system as it relates to the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. It will elucidate the influence of HO gene expression on critical events like shock, sepsis, ischemia-reperfusion and others. Our focus will then shift and look at the potential diagnostic role of exhaled CO in major inflammatory states of the lung, and finally we will highlight the activities on inhaled CO being considered as a possible therapeutic tool and the controversies surrounding it.

Utrophin is lacking at the neuromuscular junctions in the extraocular muscles of normal cat: artefact or true?

Extraocular muscles (EOM) are typically spared in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We hypothesized that this might be due to different patterns of utrophin expression. The expression of utrophin was examined in EOM of normal cats using immunohistochemical methods and Western blot. For detecting acetylcholine receptors (AChR), we used alpha-bungarotoxin. Surprisingly, alpha-bungarotoxin failed to stain the AChR and no expression of utrophin could be detected at the neuromuscular junctions. Our study could indicate that the expression of utrophin is dependent on the structure of the AChR.

Exogenous metalloporphyrins alter the organization and function of cultured neonatal rat heart cells via modulation of heme oxygenase activity

Heme oxygenase (HO), the enzyme responsible for heme catabolism, has been associated with the function of both skeletal and smooth muscle cells and with protection of the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury. Exposure of skeletal muscle cultures to heme, the physiological substrate for HO, has been shown to improve differentiation and aerobic metabolism. Little is known, however, about the roles that heme and heme metabolism play in cardiac muscle, and the present study was conducted to examine the effects of exogenous heme on cultured heart cells in the presence or absence of modulators of HO activity. Treatment of neonatal rat ventricular cells with heme resulted in increases in four key indicators: (1) the activity of metabolic enzymes, (2) the rate of spontaneous contraction, (3) the level of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) expressed, and (4) the amount of actin organized as filaments. Treatment with heme while metabolically inhibiting increased HO activity altered these effects such that: (1) increases in enzyme activities were attenuated, (2) spontaneous beating ceased, (3) the level of MyHC was reduced, and (4) the amount of filamentous actin was severely decreased to the point where myofibrils were no longer evident. These results suggest that heme and its catabolites act to modulate aspects of cardiac cell function and organization.

Role of heme oxygenases in sepsis-induced diaphragmatic contractile dysfunction and oxidative stress

Heme oxygenases (HOs), essential enzymes for heme metabolism, play an important role in the defense against oxidative stress. In this study, we evaluated the expression and functional significance of HO-1 and HO-2 in the ventilatory muscles of normal rats and rats injected with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Both HO-1 and HO-2 proteins were detected inside ventilatory and limb muscle fibers of normal rats. Diaphragmatic HO-1 and HO-2 expressions rose significantly within 1 and 12 h of LPS injection, respectively. Inhibition of the activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in rats and absence of this isoform in iNOS(-/-) mice did alter sepsis-induced regulation of muscle HOs. Systemic inhibition of HO activity with chromium mesoporphyrin IX enhanced muscle protein oxidation and hydroxynonenal formation in both normal and septic rats. Moreover, in vitro diaphragmatic force generation declined substantially in response to HO inhibition both in normal and septic rats. We conclude that both HO-1 and HO-2 proteins play an important role in the regulation of muscle contractility and in the defense against sepsis-induced oxidative stress.

Cross talk between carbon monoxide and nitric oxide

Carbon monoxide and nitric oxide are two endogenously produced gases that can act as second messenger molecules. Heme oxygenase and nitric oxide synthase are the enzyme systems responsible for generating carbon monoxide and nitric oxide, respectively. Both carbon monoxide and nitric oxide share similar properties, such as the ability to activate soluble guanylate cyclase to increase cyclic GMP. It is becoming increasingly clear that these two gases do not always work independently, but rather can modulate each other's activity. Although much is known about the heme oxygenase/carbon monoxide and nitric oxide synthase/nitric oxide pathways, how these two important systems interact is less well understood. This review attempts to define the current known relationship between carbon monoxide and nitric oxide as it relates to their production and physiological function.

Protective role of heme oxygenases against endotoxin-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction in rats

Reactive oxygen species are strongly implicated in diaphragmatic dysfunction during sepsis. We investigated whether the heme oxygenase (HO) pathway, which is a powerful protective cellular system, protects the diaphragm against oxidative stress and contractile failure during sepsis. A basal expression of both the inducible and constitutive HO protein isoforms (HO-1 and HO-2, respectively) was found in the diaphragm. Enhanced HO-1 expression in diaphragmatic myocytes was observed 24 h after Escherichia coli endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) inoculation and remained elevated for at least 96 h. Enhanced HO-1 expression was also observed in the rectus abdominis and soleus muscles and in the left ventricular myocardium of endotoxemic animals. Diaphragmatic HO-2 expression was not modified by endotoxin. Diaphragmatic HO activity exhibited a biphasic time course characterized by a transient decrease during the first 12 h followed by a significant increase at 24 h, corresponding to HO-1 induction. Diaphragmatic force was significantly reduced 24 h after LPS, concomitantly with muscular oxidative stress. Administation of an inhibitor of heme oxygenase activity, zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP-IX), further impaired muscular oxidative stress and contractile failure. By contrast, increased levels of HO-1 expression obtained by pretreatment of rats with hemin, a powerful inducer of HO-1, completely prevented LPS-mediated diaphragmatic oxidative stress and contractile failure. This protective effect was reversed by ZnPP-IX. These results show an important protective role for the HO pathway against sepsis-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction, which could be related to its antioxidant properties.

Heme oxygenase-2 is present in the sarcolemma region of skeletal muscle fibers and is non-continuously co-localized with nitric oxide synthase-1

There is increasing evidence that the heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2)/carbon monoxide (CO) pathway and the nitric oxide synthase (NOS)/nitric oxide (NO) pathway functionally cross-talk. Therefore, we investigated the appearance of HO-2 in mammalian skeletal muscles where NOS-1 is known to be expressed in high quantities. Immunoblotting of rat hind limb extensor muscles extracts revealed a single 36 kDa band demonstrating the existence of HO-2 in skeletal muscle and indicating the monospecifity of the antibody that was applied. Immunohistochemistry on healthy rat extensor hind limb muscles showed that HO-2 is present in satellite cells, endothelial cells of the vascular system, fibrocytes/fibroblasts but also fiber type-independently in extrafusal myofibers either in association with the non-junctional sarcolemma region, or in a subsarcolemmal network or, less prominently, in cross-striated stripes connected to longitudinally running lines. Combined HO-2 immunohistochemistry and NOS-1 histochemistry revealed an apparent co-localization of both molecules only in the non-junctional sarcolemma region of extrafusal type II myofibers outside costameres. In diseased muscles of mdx mice, HO-2 expression was not changed. In patients suffering from Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, it was absent in the sarcolemma region. In conclusion, the HO-2/CO system is present in mammalian skeletal muscle where it is non-continuously co-localized with the NOS-1/NO-system. This finding implicates an optionally functional cross-talk between both gaseous signaling pathways.

Immunohistochemical detection of heme oxygenase-2 in the periodontal Ruffini ending of the rat incisor

The present study was carried out to examine the occurrence of heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2) in the periodontal ligament of the rat incisor. HO-2-like immunoreactive (-IR) structures showed dendritic profiles, resembling the Ruffini endings, in the alveolar half of the ligament of rat incisor. Neither thin nerve fibers nor perivascular nerve fibers displayed HO-2-like immunoreactivity (-LI). No non-neural elements exhibited HO-2-LI. Electron microscopy revealed that immunoreactions were diffusely observed in the axon terminals of the Ruffini endings, but neither terminal Schwann cells nor Schwann sheaths contained immunoreactions for HO-2. Both most neurons in the trigeminal ganglion and trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus showed HO-2-LI. The presence of HO-2 in the periodontal Ruffini endings and its absence in the periodontal thin nerve fibers suggest the involvement of carbon monoxide produced by HO-2 in mechanoreception in the periodontal ligament.