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H Sies

Publications and source records attributed to H Sies.

At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

Role of alcohol dehydrogenase activity and the acetaldehyde in ethanol- induced ethane and pentane production by isolated perfused rat liver.

The volatile hydrocarbons ethane and n-pentane are produced at increased rates by isolated perfused rat liver during the metabolism of acutely ethanol. The effect is half-maximal at 0.5 mM-ethanol, and its is not observed when inhibitors of alcohol dehydrogenase such as 4-methyl- or 4-propyl-pyrazole are also present. Propanol, another substrate for the dehydrogenase, is also active. Increased alkane production can be initiated by adding acetaldehyde in the presence of 4-methyl- or 4-propyl-pyrazole. An antioxidant, cyanidanol, suppresses the ethanol-induced alkane production. The data obtained with the isolated organ demonstrate that products known to arise from the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids are formed in the presence of ethanol and that the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase is required for the generation of the active radical species. The mere presence of ethanol, e.g. at binding sites of special form(s) of cytochrome P-450, it not sufficient to elicit an increased production of volatile hydrocarbons by rat liver.

Acetaldehyde↗

The relationship of biliary glutathione disulfide efflux and intracellular glutathione disulfide content in perfused rat liver.

The intracellular glutathione redox state was estimated using newly adapted methods for tissue analysis. Under standard perfusion conditions of rat liver perfused in situ, intracellular GSH content was 5.5 mumol X g of liver-1, and intracellular GSSG content was 18 nmol X g of liver-1, resulting in a GSH/GSSG ratio of 300. GSSG was transported from the cells into bile. The control rate of release amounts to 0.4 nmol X min-1 X g of liver-1 and corresponds to the rate of release previously observed in anesthetized animals (Sies, H., Koch, O., Martino, E., and Boveris, A. (1979) FEBS Lett. 103, 287-290). No GSSG was released into the caval perfusate. In contrast, GSH release occurs both into bile and into the sinusoidal space, the rates of release being 1 and 14 nmol X min-1 X g of liver-1, respectively. Biliary GSH release in very low in isolated perfused liver. The relationship between intracellular GSSG levels and the rate of biliary GSSG transport was studied. This was achieved in experiments in which internal hydrogen peroxide formation was stimulated with substrates for monoamine oxidase (pargyline-sensitive), or by addition of t-butyl hydroperoxide, or of nitrofurantoin. The apparent concentration ratio, GSSG in bile/GSSG intracellular, was about 50 over the range of intracellular GSSG examined.

Animals↗

Increase in hepatic mixed disulphide and glutathione disulphide levels elicited by paraquat.

Paraquat (1 mM), when added to isolated haemoglobin-free perfused rat liver, leads to an increase of intracellular mixed disulphides from 1.3 mumole GSH equivalents per g wet weight in the controls to 2.5 mumole/g. This raises the proportion of mixed disulphides to total glutathione equivalents from about 0.2 at the beginning of the perfusion to about 0.4. The mixed disulphides are predominantly protein-bound, with low molecular weight compounds being quantitatively negligible. The content of intracellular glutathione disulphide (GSSG) is increased from 17 nmole/g in the controls to 38 nmole/g in the presence of paraquat. In addition, there is an increased rate of release of GSSG into the extracellular (biliary) space, reported previously. It is suggested that, in a reaction catalysed by thioltransferase(s), the rise in GSSG is correlated with the rise in mixed disulphides (reaction 1). Occupancy of potential cellular mixed disulphide sites is about 1/2 in the controls, and rises to about 2/3 in the presence of paraquat. THe ratio of cellular contents, NADPH/NADP+, is decreased from 5.1 in the controls to 2.3 in the presence of paraquat, while the sum of NADPH plus NADP+ remains unaltered. The perturbation in the glutathione status may be related to metabolic effects such as the stimulation of the pentose-phosphate pathway activity, and possibly also to the expression of toxic effects.

Animals↗

[Glutathione content of the lens in various forms of cataract].

Both the electrolyte ratio (K greater than Na) and high glutathione content of the lenses are generally undisturbed in the brunescent nuclear cataract (cataracta brunescens), the primary grey nuclear cataract, and the supranuclear cataract (senile cortical cataract). The electrolyte ratio (Na greater than K) and greatly decreased glutathione content are also grossly pathological in the subcapsular cataract (cataracta complicata, posterior subcapsular cataract), especially in connection with a secondary grey nuclear cataract, the mature cataract (cataracta matura), and the intumescent cataract. Alteration of the electrolyte concentrations and the glutathione content may be the results of physical, anatomical, and various metabolic disorders.

Adult↗

Rise of coenzyme A-glutathione mixed disulfide during hydroperoxide metabolism in perfused rat liver.

The hepatic metabolism of an externally added hydroperoxide, t-butyl hydroperoxide, results in substantial decreases in CoASH and acetyl-CoA and a concomitant increase in CoA-disulfides. The principal CoA-disulfide which is formed under these conditions was identified as CoASSG, the mixed disulfide of coenzyme A and glutathione; CoASSCoA levels were unchanged. The perturbation in the coenzyme A system was absent when the hydroperoxide was infused into livers from rats maintained on a selenium-deficient diet. In these livers. Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase is lowered to less than 5% of control levels; the observed effects can be attributed to flux through Se-dependent GSH peroxidase.

Acetyl Coenzyme A↗

Active oxygen metabolites and their action in the hepatocyte. Studies on chemiluminescence responses and alkane production.

"Oxidative stress" takes place in animal tissues when the balance between the cellular defense mechanisms (glutathione cycle, superoxide dismutase, catalase, vitamin E, etc.) and conditions capable of triggering oxidative reactions is altered. The oxidative reactions which occur under a variety of conditions were assessed by two non-invasive methods, low-level chemiluminescence and volatile hydrocarbon production. Oxidative stress induced by hyperoxia or organic hydroperoxides in isolated hepatocytes or the perfused liver, respectively, is accompanied by low-level chemiluminescence, the intensity of which is enhanced upon perturbation of the glutathione cycle system, i.e., glutathione depletion and/or selenium deficiency. Oxidative stress during redox cycling of paraquat, when infused into the perfused liver, is not accompanied by light emission, whereas menadione, a substance also capable of redox cycling, was found to elicit photoemission under similar conditions. The basal rates of ethane release by the perfused liver are enhanced during oxidative conditions such as metabolism of hydroperoxides, paraquat redox cycling, and ethanol oxidation. Alkane release during the latter involves the participation of alcohol dehydrogenase and further products of ethanol oxidation, i.e., acetaldehyde, as well as free radicals in some stage of the process. In vivo ethane release by animals with adjuvant arthritis was found higher than in controls, presumably due to a systemic response of liver to inflammation.

Alkanes↗

Toxic drug effects associated with oxygen metabolism: redox cycling and lipid peroxidation.

Various endogenous and exogenous compounds exert cytotoxic effects via oxygen reduction. In general, these are reduced by intracellular enzymes (reductases of various kinds) in one-electron transfer reactions, before they in turn reduce O2 to O2, the superoxide anion radical. Thus, a cycle is formed of O2 uptake at the expense of cellular reducing equivalents, notably NADPH, generating further active oxygen species (figs 1,2). Structures capable of 'redox cycling' include catechols and other quinone compounds, iron chelates, and aromatic nitro compounds. Several anticancer agents, and also some mutagens, operate on this principle, and their toxic effects may be explained by redox cycling. The particular importance of hypoxic conditions for deleterious O2 effects is given by the concomitant flux through reductive as well as oxidative pathways. Toxic effects include membrane damage resulting from peroxidative reactions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (lipid peroxidation), as well as the attack of reactive oxygen species on proteins (enzymes) and nucleic acids; thus O2 metabolism is linked to carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. Lipid peroxidation is also induced by various halogenated compounds such as carbon tetrachloride. Again, hypoxic conditions are particularly critical because, on the one hand, metabolic activation leading to the free radical is enhanced and, on the other hand, oxygen required for the maintenance of lipid peroxidation is still available. - Powerful antioxidant systems of the cell maintain low steady state concentrations of oxygen metabolites, and toxic effects may, in part, also be explained by the constant drain of reducing equivalents resulting from redox cycling.

Anaerobiosis↗

Mitochondrial and cytosolic ATP/ADP ratios in rat liver in vivo.

The ratio of ATP content/ADP content in livers from unanaesthetized fed rat was 0.9 in the mitochondrial matrix and 6.9 in the cytosol; the values for starved (48 h) animals were 1.0 and 5.9 respectively. The mitochondrial ratios observed in unanaesthetized animals were higher than in haemoglobin-free-perfused liver and lower than in isolated hepatocytes. Possible reasons for these differences may be related to oxygen supply and/or other factors. Further, data from anaesthetized rats with the liver exposed are given: mitochondrial ATP/ADP ratios were decreased with pentobarbital, but less so with ketamine as narcotic agent.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗

Peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation as detected by H2O2 production in intact perfused rat liver.

1. H2O2 formation associated with the metabolism of added fatty acids was quantitatively determined in isolated haemoglobin-free perfused rat liver (non-recirculating system) by two different methods. 2. Organ spectrophotometry of catalase Compound I [Sies & Chance (1970) FEBS Lett. 11, 172-176] was used to detect H2O2 formation (a) by steady-state titration with added hydrogen donor, methanol or (b) by comparison of fatty-acid responses with those of the calibration compound, urate. 3. In the use of the peroxidatic reaction of catalase, [14C]methanol was added as hydrogen donor at an optimal concentration of 1 mM in the presence of 0.2 mM-L-methionine, and 14CO2 production rates were determined. 4. Results obtained by the different methods were similar. 5. The yield of H2O2 formation, expressed as the rate of H2O2 formation in relation to the rate of fatty-acid supply, was less than 1.0 in all cases, indicating that, regardless of chain length, less than one acetyl unit was formed per mol of added fatty acid by the peroxisomal system. In particular, the standard substrate used with isolated peroxisomal preparations (C16:0 fatty acid) gave low yield (close to zero). Long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids exhibit a relatively high yield of H2O2 formation. 6. The hypolipidaemic agent bezafibrate led to slightly increased yields for most of the acids tested, but the yield with oleate was decreased to one-half the original yield. 7. It is concluded that in the intact isolated perfused rat liver the assayable capacity for peroxisomal beta-oxidation is used to only a minor degree. However, the observed rates of H2O2 production with fatty acids can account for a considerable share of the endogenous H2O2 production found in the intact animal.

Animals↗