scholarly journals Threshold levels of extracellularl-arginine that trigger NOS-mediated ROS/RNS production in cardiac ventricular myocytes

2017 ◽  
Vol 312 (2) ◽  
pp. C144-C154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayalakshmi Ramachandran ◽  
R. Daniel Peluffo

l-Arginine (L-Arg) is the substrate for nitric oxide synthase (NOS) to produce nitric oxide (NO), a signaling molecule that is key in cardiovascular physiology and pathology. In cardiac myocytes, L-Arg is incorporated from the circulation through the functioning of system-y+cationic amino acid transporters. Depletion of L-Arg leads to NOS uncoupling, with O2rather than L-Arg as the terminal electron acceptor, resulting in superoxide formation. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) superoxide (O2˙−), combined with NO, may lead to the production of the reactive nitrogen species (RNS) peroxynitrite (ONOO–), which is recognized as a major contributor to myocardial depression. In this study we aimed to determine the levels of external L-Arg that trigger ROS/RNS production in cardiac myocytes. To this goal, we used a two-step experimental design in which acutely isolated cardiomyocytes were loaded with the dye coelenterazine that greatly increases its fluorescence quantum yield in the presence of ONOO–and O2˙−. Cells were then exposed to different concentrations of extracellular L-Arg and changes in fluorescence were followed spectrofluorometrically. It was found that below a threshold value of ~100 µM, decreasing concentrations of L-Arg progressively increased ONOO–/ O2˙−-induced fluorescence, an effect that was not mimicked by d-arginine or l-lysine and was fully blocked by the NOS inhibitor l-NAME. These results can be explained by NOS aberrant enzymatic activity and provide an estimate for the levels of circulating L-Arg below which ROS/RNS-mediated harmful effects arise in cardiac muscle.

2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (2) ◽  
pp. C230-C239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaguo Zhou ◽  
David D. Kim ◽  
R. Daniel Peluffo

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a central role as a cellular signaling molecule in health and disease. In the heart, NO decreases the rate of spontaneous beating and the velocity and extent of shortening and accelerates the velocity of relengthening. Since the cationic amino acid l-arginine (l-Arg) is the substrate for NO production by NO synthases (NOS), we tested whether the transporters that mediate l-Arg import in cardiac muscle cells represent an intervention point in the regulation of NO synthesis. Electrical currents activated by l-Arg with low apparent affinity in whole cell voltage-clamped rat cardiomyocytes were found to be rapidly and reversibly inhibited by NO donors. Radiotracer uptake studies performed on cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles revealed the presence of high-affinity/low-capacity and low-affinity/high-capacity components of cationic amino acid transport that were inhibited by the NO donor S-nitroso- N-acetyl-dl-penicillamine. NO inhibited uptake in a noncompetitive manner with Ki values of 275 and 827 nM for the high- and low-affinity component, respectively. Fluorescence spectroscopy experiments showed that millimolar concentrations of l-Arg initially promoted and then inhibited the release of endogenous NO in cardiomyocytes. Likewise, l-Arg currents measured in cardiac myocytes voltage clamped in the presence of 460 nM free intracellular Ca2+, a condition in which a Ca-CaM complex should activate endogenous NO production, showed fast activation followed by inhibition of l-Arg transport. The NOS inhibitor N-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester, but not blockers of downstream reactions, specifically removed this inhibitory component. These results demonstrate that NO acutely regulates its own biosynthesis by modulating the availability of l-Arg via cationic amino acid transporters.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 996-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedetta Porro ◽  
Sonia Eligini ◽  
Isabella Squellerio ◽  
Elena Tremoli ◽  
Viviana Cavalca

RBCs (red blood cells) have a fundamental role in the regulation of vascular homoeostasis thanks to the ability of these cells to carry O2 (oxygen) between respiratory surfaces and metabolizing tissues and to release vasodilator compounds, such as ATP and NO (nitric oxide), in response to tissue oxygenation. More recently it has been shown that RBCs are also able to produce NO endogenously as they express a functional NOS (nitric oxide synthase), similar to the endothelial isoform. In addition, RBCs carry important enzymes and molecules involved in L-arginine metabolism, such as arginase, NO synthesis inhibitors and the cationic amino acid transporters. Altogether these findings strongly support the role of these cells as producers, vehicles and scavengers of NO, therefore affecting several physiological processes such as blood rheology and cell adhesion. Consequently, the importance of alterations in the L-arginine/NO metabolic pathway induced by specific conditions, e.g. oxidative stress, in different pathological settings have been investigated. In the present review we discuss the role of RBCs in vascular homoeostasis, focusing our attention on the importance of the NO pathway alterations in cardiovascular diseases and their relationship to major risk factors.


1999 ◽  
Vol 344 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anwar R. BAYDOUN ◽  
Samantha M. WILEMAN ◽  
Caroline P. D. WHEELER-JONES ◽  
Michael S. MARBER ◽  
Giovanni E. MANN ◽  
...  

The signalling mechanisms involved in the induction of nitric oxide synthase and L-arginine transport were investigated in bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-stimulated rat cultured aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs). The expression profile of transcripts for cationic amino acid transporters (CATs) and their regulation by LPS and IFN-γ were also examined. Control RASMCs expressed mRNA for CAT-1, CAT-2A and CAT-2B. Levels of all three transcripts were significantly elevated in activated cells. Stimulated CAT mRNA expression and L-arginine transport occurred independently of protein kinase C (PKC), protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) and p44/42 mitogen-activated kinases (MAPKs), but were inhibited by the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580, which at 3 μM caused maximum inhibition of both responses. Induction of NO synthesis was independent of p44/42 MAPK activation and only marginally dependent on PKC, but was attenuated markedly by the PTK inhibitors genistein and herbimycin A. SB203580 differentially regulated inducible NO synthase expression and NO production, potentiating both processes at low micromolar concentrations and inhibiting at concentrations of ⩾ 1 μM. In conclusion, our results suggest that RASMCs constitutively express transcripts for CAT-1, CAT-2A and CAT-2B, and that expression of these transcripts is significantly enhanced by LPS and IFN-γ. Moreover, stimulation of L-arginine transport and induction of NO synthesis by LPS and IFN-γ appear to be under critical regulation by the p38 MAPK, since both processes were significantly modified by SB203580 at concentrations so far shown to have no effect on other signalling pathways. Thus, in RASMCs, the p38 MAPK cascade represents an important signalling mechanism, regulating both enhanced L-arginine transport and induced NO synthesis.


2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (6) ◽  
pp. L1231-L1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip O. Scumpia ◽  
Paul J. Sarcia ◽  
Vincent G. DeMarco ◽  
Bruce R. Stevens ◽  
Jeffrey W. Skimming

Endotoxemia stimulates endogenous nitric oxide formation, induces transcription of arginine transporters, and causes lung injury. Hypothermia inhibits nitric oxide formation and is used as a means of organ preservation. We hypothesized that hypothermia inhibits endotoxin-induced intrapulmonary nitric oxide formation and that this inhibition is associated with attenuated transcription of enzymes that regulate nitric oxide formation, such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and the cationic amino acid transporters 1 (CAT-1) and 2 (CAT-2). Rats were anesthetized and randomized to treatment with hypothermia (18–24°C) or normothermia (36–38°C). Endotoxin was administered intravascularly. Concentrations of iNOS, CAT-1, CAT-2 mRNA, iNOS protein, and nitrosylated proteins were measured in lung tissue homogenates. We found that hypothermia abrogated the endotoxin-induced increase in exhaled nitric oxide and lung tissue nitrotyrosine concentrations. Western blot analyses revealed that hypothermia inhibited iNOS, but not endothelial nitric oxide synthase, protein expression in lung tissues. CAT-1, CAT-2, and iNOS mRNA concentrations were lower in the lungs of hypothermic animals. These findings suggest that hypothermia protects against intrapulmonary nitric oxide overproduction and nitric oxide-mediated lung injury by inhibiting transcription of iNOS, CAT-1, and CAT-2.


1998 ◽  
Vol 274 (1) ◽  
pp. C245-C252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junsuke Igarashi ◽  
Masashi Nishida ◽  
Shiro Hoshida ◽  
Nobushige Yamashita ◽  
Hiroaki Kosaka ◽  
...  

The effects of nitric oxide (NO) produced by cardiac inducible NO synthase (iNOS) on myocardial injury after oxidative stress were examined. Interleukin-1β induced cultured rat neonatal cardiac myocytes to express iNOS. After induction of iNOS,l-arginine enhanced NO production in a concentration-dependent manner. Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity in myocytes was attenuated by elevated iNOS activity and by an NO donor, S-nitroso- N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP). Although NO production by iNOS did not induce myocardial injury, NO augmented release of lactate dehydrogenase from myocyte cultures after addition of H2O2(0.1 mM, 1 h). Inhibition of iNOS with Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester ameliorated the effects of NO-enhancing treatments on myocardial injury and GPX activity. SNAP augmented the myocardial injury induced by H2O2. Inhibition of GPX activity with antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide for GPX mRNA increased myocardial injury by H2O2. Results suggest that the induction of cardiac iNOS promotes myocardial injury due to oxidative stress via inactivation of the intrinsic antioxidant enzyme, GPX.


2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (4) ◽  
pp. H1995-H2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuo-Hui Shao ◽  
Wei-Tien Chang ◽  
Kim Chai Chan ◽  
Kim R. Wojcik ◽  
Chin-Wang Hsu ◽  
...  

Optimal timing of therapeutic hypothermia for cardiac ischemia is unknown. Our prior work suggests that ischemia with rapid reperfusion (I/R) in cardiomyocytes can be more damaging than prolonged ischemia alone. Also, these cardiomyocytes demonstrate protein kinase C (PKC) activation and nitric oxide (NO) signaling that confer protection against I/R injury. Thus we hypothesized that hypothermia will protect most using extended ischemia and early reperfusion cooling and is mediated via PKC and NO synthase (NOS). Chick cardiomyocytes were exposed to an established model of 1-h ischemia/3-h reperfusion, and the same field of initially contracting cells was monitored for viability and NO generation. Normothermic I/R resulted in 49.7 ± 3.4% cell death. Hypothermia induction to 25°C was most protective (14.3 ± 0.6% death, P < 0.001 vs. I/R control) when instituted during extended ischemia and early reperfusion, compared with induction after reperfusion (22.4 ± 2.9% death). Protection was completely lost if onset of cooling was delayed by 15 min of reperfusion (45.0 ± 8.2% death). Extended ischemia/early reperfusion cooling was associated with increased and sustained NO generation at reperfusion and decreased caspase-3 activation. The NOS inhibitor Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (200 μM) reversed these changes and abrogated hypothermia protection. In addition, the PKCε inhibitor myr-PKCε v1-2 (5 μM) also reversed NO production and hypothermia protection. In conclusion, therapeutic hypothermia initiated during extended ischemia/early reperfusion optimally protects cardiomyocytes from I/R injury. Such protection appears to be mediated by increased NO generation via activation of protein kinase Cε; nitric oxide synthase.


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