Pulmonary Neutrophilic Inflammation and Noncommunicable Diseases: Pathophysiology, Redox Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Therapeutics

Significance: Pulmonary neurophilic inflammation (PNI) is the homing and activation of neutrophil with damage to the microvasculature. This process is involved in pulmonary damage in patients exposed to airborne pollutants (exogenous stressors) and also to systemic inflammation/oxidative stress (endogenous stressors) associated with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Recent Advances: PNI is an important trigger of the early onset and progression of NCD in susceptible patients exposed to airborne pollutants. Irritation of the lung microvasculature by exogenous and endogenous stressors causes PNI. Circulating endogenous stressors in NCD can cause PNI. Critical Issues: Air pollution-triggered PNI causes increased circulating endogenous stressors that can trigger NCD in susceptible patients. Systemic inflammation/oxidative stress associated with NCD can cause PNI. Inflammation/end-oxidation products of macromolecules are also potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for NCD-triggered PNI- and PNI-triggered NCD. Future Directions: Understanding the molecular mechanism of PNI triggered by exogenous or endogenous stressors will help explain the early onset of NCD in susceptible patients exposed to air pollution. It can also help undercover biomarkers and mechanism-based therapeutic targets in air pollutant-triggered PNI, PNI-triggered NCD, and NCD-triggered PNI.

A Mouse Model of Diet-Induced Obesity Resembling Most Features of Human Metabolic Syndrome

Increased chicken-derived fat and fructose consumption in the human diet is paralleled by an increasing prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS). Herein, we aimed at developing and characterizing a mouse model of diet-induced obesity (DIO) resembling most of the key features of the human MS. To accomplish this, we fed male C57BL/6J mice for 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks with either a low-fat diet (LFD) or a high-chicken-fat diet (HFD) and tap water with or without 10% fructose (F). This experimental design resulted in the following four experimental groups: LFD, LFD + F, HFD, and HFD + F. Over the feeding period, and on a weekly basis, the HFD + F group had more caloric intake and gained more weight than the other experimental groups. Compared to the other groups, and at the end of the feeding period, the HFD + F group had a higher adipogenic index, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting basal glycemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, and atherogenic index and showed steatohepatitis and systemic oxidative stress/inflammation. A mouse model of DIO that will allow us to study the effect of MS in different organs and systems has been developed and characterized.

Immuno–spin trapping of DNA radicals

The detection of DNA radicals by immuno-spin trapping (IST) is based on the trapping of radicals with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO), forming stable nitrone adducts that are then detected using an anti-DMPO serum. DNA radicals are very reactive species, and because they are paramagnetic they have previously been detected only by electron spin resonance (ESR) with or without spin trapping, which is not available in most bioresearch laboratories. IST combines the simplicity, reliability, specificity and sensitivity of spin trapping with heterogeneous immunoassays for the detection of DNA radicals, and complements existing methods for the measurement of oxidatively generated DNA damage. Here we have used IST to demonstrate that DMPO traps Cu(II)-H(2)O(2)-induced DNA radicals in situ and in real time, forming DMPO-DNA nitrone adducts, but preventing both 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) formation and DNA fragmentation. We also applied IST to detect DNA radicals in rat hepatocytes exposed to Cu(II) and H(2)O(2) under nonlethal conditions.

Copper-catalyzed Protein Oxidation and Its Modulation by Carbon Dioxide

It is well known that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced copper-catalyzed fragmentation of proteins follows a site-specific oxidative mechanism mediated by hydroxyl radical-like species (i.e. Cu(I)O, Cu(II)/*OH or Cu(III)) that ends in increased carbonyl formation and protein fragmentation. We have found that the nitrone spin trap DMPO (5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide) prevented such processes by trapping human serum albumin (HSA)-centered radicals, in situ and in real time, before they reacted with oxygen. When (bi)carbonate (CO2, H2CO3, HCO3- and CO3(-2)) was added to the reaction mixture, it blocked fragmentation mediated by hydroxyl radical-like species but enhanced DMPO-trappable radical sites in HSA. In the past, this effect would have been explained by oxidation of (bi)carbonate to a carbonate radical anion (CO3*) by a bound hydroxyl radical-like species. We now propose that the CO3* radical is formed by the reduction of HOOCO2- (a complex of H2O2 with CO2) by the protein-Cu(I) complex. CO3* diffuses and produces more DMPO-trappable radical sites but does not fragment HSA. We were also able, for the first time, to detect discrete but highly specific H2O2-induced copper-catalyzed CO3*-mediated induction of DMPO-trappable protein radicals in functioning RAW 264.7 macrophages. We conclude that carbon dioxide modulates H2O2-induced copper-catalyzed oxidative damage to proteins by preventing site-specific fragmentation and enhancing DMPO-trappable protein radicals in functioning cells. The pathophysiological significance of our findings is discussed.

Mechanism of hydrogen peroxide-induced Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase-centered radical formation as explored by immuno-spin trapping: the role of copper- and carbonate radical anion-mediated oxidations

We have reinvestigated the biochemistry of H2O2-induced Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1)-centered radicals, detecting them by immuno-spin trapping. These radicals are involved in H2O2-induced structural and functional damage to SOD1, and their mechanism of generation depends on copper and/or (bi)carbonate (i.e., CO2, CO3(-2), or HCO3-). First, in the absence of DTPA and (bi)carbonate, Cu(II) was partially released and rebound at His, Cys, and Tyr residues in SOD1 with the generation of protein-copper-bound oxidants outside the SOD1 active site by reaction with excess H2O2. These species produced immuno-spin trapping-detectable SOD1-centered radicals associated with H2O2-induced active site ( approximately 5 and approximately 10 kDa fragments) and non-active site (smearing between 3 and 16 kDa) copper-dependent backbone oxidations and subsequent fragmentation of SOD1. Second, in the presence of DTPA, which inhibits H2O2-induced SOD1 non-active site fragmentation, (bi)carbonate scavenged the enzyme-bound oxidant at the SOD1 active site to produce the carbonate radical anion, CO3*-, thus protecting against active site SOD1 fragmentation. CO3*- diffuses and produces side chain oxidations forming DMPO-trappable radical sites outside the enzyme active site. Both mechanisms for generating immuno-spin trapping-detectable SOD1-centered radicals were susceptible to inhibition by cyanide and enhanced at high pH values. In addition, (bi)carbonate enhanced H2O2-induced SOD1 turnover as demonstrated by an enhancement in oxygen evolution and SOD1 inactivation. These results help clarify the free radical chemistry involved in the functional and structural oxidative damage to SOD1 by H2O2 with the intermediacy of copper- and CO3*--mediated oxidations.