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Biomedical subjects

B Halliwell

Publications and source records attributed to B Halliwell.

At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

Allopurinol and oxypurinol are hydroxyl radical scavengers.

Allopurinol is a scavenger of the highly reactive hydroxyl radical (k2 approx. 10(9) M-1 X s-1). One product of attack of hydroxyl radical upon allopurinol is oxypurinol, which is a major metabolite of allopurinol. Oxypurinol is a better hydroxyl radical scavenger than is allopurinol (k2 approx. 4 X 10(9) M-1 X s-1) and it also reacts with the myeloperoxidase-derived oxidant hypochlorous acid. Hence the protective actions of allopurinol against reperfusion damage after hypoxia need not be entirely due to xanthine oxidase inhibition.

Allopurinol↗

Superoxide-dependent and ascorbate-dependent formation of hydroxyl radicals from hydrogen peroxide in the presence of iron. Are lactoferrin and transferrin promoters of hydroxyl-radical generation?

Apo-lactoferrin and apo-transferrin protect against iron-ion-dependent hydroxyl-radical (.OH) generation from H2O2 in the presence of superoxide radicals or ascorbic acid at pH 7.4, whether the necessary iron is added as ionic iron or as ferritin. Iron-loaded transferrin and lactoferrin [2 mol of Fe(III)/mol] show no protective ability, but do not themselves accelerate .OH production unless chelating agents are present in the reaction mixture, especially if the proteins are incorrectly loaded with iron. At acidic pH values, the protective ability of the apoproteins is diminished, and the fully iron-loaded proteins can release some iron in a form able to accelerate .OH generation. The physiological significance of these observations is discussed.

Apoproteins↗

Action of uric acid, allopurinol and oxypurinol on the myeloperoxidase-derived oxidant hypochlorous acid.

Both oxypurinol and uric acid react with the myeloperoxidase-derived oxidant hypochlorous acid at physiological pH, and they can protect the elastase-inhibitory capacity of human alpha 1-antiprotease against inactivation by hypochlorous acid. Allopurinol does not protect alpha 1-antiprotease, possibly because the redox potential of allopurinol at physiological pH is too positive to permit oxidation by hypochlorous acid.

Allopurinol↗

Oxygen radicals and human disease.

Toxic oxygen free radicals have been implicated as important pathologic mediators in many clinical disorders. We discuss the chemistry of oxygen radical production and the roles of iron and of various antioxidants as well as the diseases that have received active attention in oxy-radical research. Particular attention is focused on cigarette smoke oxidants, ischemia-reperfusion-induced radical production, carcinogenesis, and aging. Such research may well provide a firm foundation for therapeutic breakthroughs.

Aging↗

Oxidants and human disease: some new concepts.

Oxidant species such as superoxide radical (O.2-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radical (HO.), and lipid peroxides (LOOH) are becoming increasingly implicated in human disease. However, the question of whether such oxidants are a major cause of tissue injury in human disease or are merely produced during such injury has been difficult to answer because of inadequate experimental techniques, and possibly because of an overemphasis on lipid peroxidation as a mechanism of oxidant injury. Recent developments in methodology, in our understanding of the primary mechanism of oxidant toxicity to cells, and in concepts of antioxidant protection are reviewed. Good evidence now exists for some role of oxidant damage to tissues in the pathology of several human diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, reperfusion injury, immune injury to lung and kidney, and cerebral trauma or ischemia. These have led to promising suggestions for new therapeutic approaches.

Antioxidants↗

Aromatic hydroxylation as a potential measure of hydroxyl-radical formation in vivo. Identification of hydroxylated derivatives of salicylate in human body fluids.

Attack by .OH radicals, generated by a Fenton system, upon salicylate produces 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate as major products and catechol as a minor product. H.p.l.c. separation combined with electrochemical detection was used to identify and quantify 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate in human plasma and synovial fluid. We propose that conversion of salicylate into 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate, or of other aromatic compounds into specific hydroxylated products, may be a useful assay for .OH formation in the human body.

Adult↗

Formation of hydroxyl radicals in the presence of ferritin and haemosiderin. Is haemosiderin formation a biological protective mechanism?

Horse spleen and human spleen ferritins increase the formation of hydroxyl radicals (OH) at both pH 4.5 and pH 7.4 in reaction mixtures containing ascorbic acid and H2O2. The generation of OH is inhibited by the chelator desferrioxamine. Human spleen haemosiderin also accelerates OH generation in identical reaction mixtures, but is far less effective (on a unit iron basis) than ferritin under all reaction conditions. It is proposed that conversion of ferritin into haemosiderin in iron overload is biologically advantageous in that it decreases the ability of iron to promote oxygen-radical reactions.

Animals↗

An aromatic hydroxylation assay for hydroxyl radicals utilizing high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Use to investigate the effect of EDTA on the Fenton reaction.

A highly sensitive HPLC method for the separation of hydroxylation products derived from the attack of hydroxyl radical upon phenol is described. Catechol and hydroquinone are the major hydroxylation products formed, with little resorcinol. The effect of EDTA upon hydroxyl radical generation from an iron (II)-H2O2 system is shown to depend upon the order of addition of chelator and metal ion to the reaction mixture, the ratio [iron salt]/[chelator] and the presence or absence of a phosphate buffer. Reasons for these different effects are discussed.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

Metal ions and oxygen radical reactions in human inflammatory joint disease.

Activated phagocytic cells produce superoxide (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2); their production is important in bacterial killing by neutrophils and has been implicated in tissue damage by activated phagocytes. H2O2 and O2- are poorly reactive in aqueous solution and their damaging actions may be related to formation of more reactive species from them. One such species is hydroxyl radical (OH.), formed from H2O2 in the presence of iron- or copper-ion catalysts. A major determinant of the cytotoxicity of O2- and H2O2 is thus the availability and location of metal-ion catalysts of OH. formation. Hydroxyl radical is an initiator of lipid peroxidation. Iron promoters of OH. production present in vivo include ferritin, and loosely bound iron complexes detectable by the 'bleomycin assay'. The chelating agent Desferal (desferrioxamine B methanesulphonate) prevents iron-dependent formation of OH. and protects against phagocyte-dependent tissue injury in several animal models of human disease. The use of Desferal for human treatment should be approached with caution, because preliminary results upon human rheumatoid patients have revealed side effects. It is proposed that OH. radical is a major damaging agent in the inflamed rheumatoid joint and that its formation is facilitated by the release of iron from transferrin, which can be achieved at the low pH present in the micro-environment created by adherent activated phagocytic cells. It is further proposed that one function of lactoferrin is to protect against iron-dependent radical reactions rather than to act as a catalyst of OH. production.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

Cobalt(II) ion as a promoter of hydroxyl radical and possible 'crypto-hydroxyl' radical formation under physiological conditions. Differential effects of hydroxyl radical scavengers.

Co(II) ions react with hydrogen peroxide under physiological conditions to form a 'reactive species' that can hydroxylate aromatic compounds (phenol and salicylate) and degrade deoxyribose to thiobarbituric-acid-reactive material. Catalase decreases the formation of this species but superoxide dismutase or low concentrations of ascorbic acid have little effect. EDTA, present in excess over the Co(II), can accelerate deoxyribose degradation and aromatic hydroxylation. In the presence of EDTA, deoxyribose degradation by the reactive species is inhibited competitively by scavengers of the hydroxyl radical (.OH), their effectiveness being related to their second-order rate constants for reaction with .OH. In the absence of EDTA the scavengers inhibit only at much higher concentrations and their order of effectiveness is changed. It is suggested that, in the presence of EDTA, hydroxyl radical is formed 'in free solution' and attacks deoxyribose or an aromatic molecule. In the absence of EDTA, .OH radical is formed in a 'site-specific' manner and is difficult to intercept by .OH scavengers. The relationship of these results to the proposed 'crypto .OH' radical is discussed.

Chemical Phenomena↗

The behaviour of caeruloplasmin in stored human extracellular fluids in relation to ferroxidase II activity, lipid peroxidation and phenanthroline-detectable copper.

No Cu(II) ion is measurable in human serum or synovial fluid by the phenanthroline assay. On storage of human serum or synovial fluid at 4 degrees C, phenanthroline-detectable copper appears, lipid peroxidation occurs, ferroxidase I activity declines and ferroxidase II activity rises, yet there is no fall in immunologically detectable caeruloplasmin. Storage of body fluids at -20 degrees C or -70 degrees C slows, but does not prevent, these deteriorative changes. It is suggested that the presence of low-molecular-mass Cu(II) ion complexes, ferroxidase II activity, "cytotoxic factors' and "immunosuppressive factors' in body fluids may be, in part or in whole, an artifact of the storage and handling of the fluids. A report [Blake, Blann, Bacon, Farr, Gutteridge & Halliwell (1983) Clin. Sci. 64, 551-553] that the caeruloplasmin present in rheumatoid synovial fluid is deficient in ferroxidase activity is shown to be such an artifact. It is strongly recommended that all such experiments be performed upon freshly taken fluid samples.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

Aluminium salts accelerate peroxidation of membrane lipids stimulated by iron salts.

Aluminium salts do not themselves stimulate peroxidation of ox-brain phospholipid liposomes, but they greatly accelerate the peroxidation induced by iron(II) salts at acidic pH values. This effect of Al(III) is not seen at pH 7.4, perhaps because Al(III) salts form insoluble complexes at this pH in aqueous solution. Peroxidation of liposomes in the presence of Al(III) and Fe(II) salts is inhibited by the chelating agent desferrioxamine, and by EDTA and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid at concentrations greater than those of Fe(II) salt. Aluminium salts slightly stimulate the peroxidation of peroxide-depleted linolenic acid micelles, but they do not accelerate the peroxidation induced by addition of iron(II) salts to the micelles at acidic pH. Aluminium salts accelerate the peroxidation observed when human erythrocytes are treated with hydrogen peroxide at pH 7.4. Desferrioxamine decreases the peroxidation. We suggest that Al(III) ions produce an alteration in membrane structure that facilitates lipid peroxidation, and that the increased formation of fluorescent age pigments in the nervous system of patients exposed to toxic amounts of Al(III) may be related to this phenomenon. The ability of desferal to bind both iron (III) and aluminium(III) salts and to inhibit lipid peroxidation makes it an especially useful chelating agent in the treatment of 'aluminium overload'.

Aluminum↗

Copper and iron complexes catalytic for oxygen radical reactions in sweat from human athletes.

Sweat collected from 'explosive' and 'endurance' athletes immediately after exercise contains low molecular mass complexes of copper detectable by their ability to bind to o-phenanthroline. Concentrations of these copper complexes are much greater in arm sweat than in trunk sweat. The iron content of arm sweat, as determined by the ferrozine method, is also greater than that of trunk sweat. However, much of the iron in trunk sweat exists in a low molecular mass form that can bind to the antibiotic bleomycin, whereas the iron in arm sweat does not exist in this form. The metal complexes in human sweat are capable of stimulating the peroxidation of membrane lipids in the presence of ascorbic acid. The physiological significance of the presence of iron and copper complexes in sweat is discussed.

Anemia↗

Use of desferrioxamine as a 'probe' for iron-dependent formation of hydroxyl radicals. Evidence for a direct reaction between desferal and the superoxide radical.

The iron chelator desferal is a powerful inhibitor of lipid peroxidation and of hydroxyl radical formation dependent on the presence of iron salts. Desferal also reacts with superoxide radical with a second-order rate constant approximately equal to 3 X 10(2) M-1 s-1 at pH 10.2 and approximately 9 X 10(2) M-1 s-1 at physiological pH. It is concluded that this slow reaction of desferal with O2- is unlikely to influence the interpretation of experiments in which the chelator is used. The ability of desferal to react with hydroxyl radical (k2 approximately 10(10) M-1 s-1) is a far more likely source of error in the interpretation of results using this chelating agent.

Cytochrome c Group↗

The importance of free radicals and catalytic metal ions in human diseases.

The study of free radical reactions is not an isolated and esoteric branch of science. A knowledge of free radical chemistry and biochemistry is relevant to an understanding of all diseases and the mode of action of all toxins, if only because diseased or damaged tissues undergo radical reactions more readily than do normal tissues. However it does not follow that because radical reactions can be demonstrated, they are important in any particular instance. We hope that the careful techniques needed to assess the biological role of free radicals will become more widely used.

Aging↗