Search PubMedSearch

Biomedical subjects

L W Oberley

Publications and source records attributed to L W Oberley.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Immunohistochemical identification of superoxide dismutases, catalase, and glutathione-S-transferases in rat femora.

We used light microscopic immunohistochemistry to locate manganese superoxide dismutase, copper zinc superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione-S-transferases in demineralized femora from rats of 4-14 weeks of age. Immunoblots confirmed the specificity of the polyclonal antibodies for the rat proteins of interest. Each of the enzymes exhibited a unique staining pattern. Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase was detected within some articular and epiphyseal chondrocytes of younger animals. Manganese superoxide dismutase was detected within some articular and epiphyseal chondrocytes, within some osteoprogenitor cells and osteoblasts, within many osteoclasts, and within some vascular smooth muscle cells. Catalase was identified within articular chondrocytes, epiphyseal chondrocytes, and osteocytes, whereas staining at the periphery of hypertrophic chondrocytes suggested extracellular and/or cell membrane-associted catalase. Glutathione-S-transferases were detected within and at the periphery of epiphyseal and articular chondrocytes and less prominently within cortical osteocytes. There were no major age-related changes in antioxidant enzyme distribution.

Animals

Immunolocalization of antioxidant enzymes and isozymes of glutathione S-transferase in normal rat lung.

Polyclonal antisera to manganese and copper-zinc superoxide dismutases, catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and isozymes of glutathione S-transferase (liver and placental isolates, GST-L and GST-P, respectively) were used to localize these enzymes in normal rat lung by immunostaining. Light-microscopic results, using an immunoperoxidase technique, were expanded on by electron-microscopic immunogold localization. The findings were consistent with previous biochemical work. However, both GPx and GST-P were predominantly localized to extracellular connective tissue of the lung. These findings demonstrate the basal antioxidant enzyme phenotypes for parenchymal lung tissue at light- and electron-microscopic levels. Significant components of enzymatic defense to oxidant stress are heterogeneously distributed throughout rat lung tissue including both epithelial cell surfaces and the extracellular matrix.

Animals

Characterization of early kidney lesions in estrogen-induced tumors in the Syrian hamster.

Syrian hamsters were treated with diethylstilbestrol (DES), a potent estrogen and kidney carcinogen, or ethinyl estradiol (EE), a strong estrogen but weak carcinogen, for 1-9 months. At monthly intervals their kidneys were studied using light, immunoperoxidase, and electron microscopic techniques. At 5 months, DES-treated animals exhibited interstitial lesions composed of small round cells with a high nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio. Immunoperoxidase and ultrastructural studies showed these cells to be similar to cells in fully formed tumors at 9 months. Early lesions in EE-treated animals (seen as early as 1 month) were dissimilar, these lesions appeared in the deep cortex adjacent to the renal pelvis, where proximal tubules underwent hyperplastic changes, showing columnar cells with large nuclei, occasional mitoses, and sloughing of apical cytoplasm. Cells in early lesions of EE-treated animals did not resemble the fully developed tumor in either immunoperoxidase or ultrastructural features; although with longer treatment these tubular lesions progressed to dysplasia (3-5 months) and severe dysplasia/carcinoma in situ (7 months), they did not form grossly visible tumors during the 9-month study. Both early lesions identified were specific, inasmuch as they were not observed in control animals and animals treated with beta-dienestrol and 17 alpha-estradiol (noncarcinogenic weak estrogens). Animals given a combination of DES and EE showed tubular hyperplasia but not interstitial lesions; this finding was of particular interest because hamsters given this combination of estrogens do not develop gross renal tumors. These results strongly implicate the primitive interstitial cell in the hamster kidney as the cell of origin of the DES-induced neoplasm.

Animals

Developmental patterns in the antioxidant defenses of the housefly, Musca domestica.

The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferases, GSSG reductase, thiol transferases, gamma glutamylcysteine synthetase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and the concentrations of H2O2 and reduced and oxidized glutathione were determined in the various developmental stages of houseflies. Housefly development was correlated with a progressive increase of cellular oxidizing equivalents and a loss of cellular reducing capacity. The loss of reducing equivalents appeared to result from a decrease in the activity of enzymes involved in glutathione and NADPH synthesis and a concomitant increase in glutathione-oxidizing enzymes. Relatively little change was observed in SOD activity during housefly development; however, the electrophoretic pattern of MnSOD varied in a manner specific to developmental stage. A striking increase in H2O2 concentration occurred prior to pupation possibly due to changes in substrate catabolism. These results support the hypothesis that the cellular environment becomes progressively more oxidizing during development.

Animals

Superoxide dismutase and catalase levels during estrogen-induced renal tumorigenesis, in renal tumors and their autonomous variants in the Syrian hamster.

Antioxidant enzyme levels were determined in kidneys during estrogen-induced cortical renal tumorigenesis in male Syrian hamsters. The activity of these enzymes in renal tumors were compared to those in the kidney cortex of untreated male castrated hamsters of different ages and in age-matched animals treated with diethylstilbestrol (DES) for varying periods. A transient increase in kidney Mn superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and total SOD activity was seen after 1.5 and 3.1 months of DES treatment compared to untreated controls. However, after 4.4 months of DES exposure the activities of these antioxidant enzymes fell below untreated levels. The level of MnSOD and CuZnSOD was 3- to 10-fold lower compared to castrated male renal cortical values in DES-induced primary, serially transplanted and in autonomous renal tumour variants. Catalase activity declined steadily at 1.5 to 4.4 months of DES treatment. Low levels of catalase activity were found in all tumors examined. In general, Western blot analysis of immunoreactive proteins confirmed these findings, indicating that the low enzyme activities were due to low levels of enzyme proteins. Immunohistochemistry of the earliest tumor foci exhibited negligible antioxidant enzyme activity. The levels of these antioxidant enzymes were similar in all tumors surveyed, both primary and autonomous variants and in newborn kidneys, and they were about 10-fold lower than in normal kidney cortex or isolated proximal tubules.

Animals

Manganese superoxide dismutase expression in human cancer cells: a possible role of mRNA processing.

The level of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) as determined by an immunoreactive assay was reduced in human cancer cells. The reduced amount of immunoreactive MnSOD in these cells was observed regardless of the growth state of the cells. The decrease in the enzyme protein was associated with a decrease in the mature form of MnSOD transcript as determined by Northern Analysis. The decreased amount of the mature form of MnSOD transcript was accompanied by an increase in the amount of the partially processed form of MnSOD transcript. These results suggest that RNA processing or translation of MnSOD mRNA may be responsible for the decreased amount of MnSOD activity in human tumor cells.

Blotting, Northern

Immunohistochemical localization of glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase in adult Syrian hamster tissues and during kidney development.

Tissues from adult Syrian hamsters were studied with immunoperoxidase techniques using polyclonal antibodies to glutathione-S-transferase (rat liver and human placental enzymes) and human erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase. Most tissues immunostained similarly with these antibodies. Most notable was the cytoplasmic staining of mesenchyme tissues, especially smooth muscle, by all three antibodies. Epithelial cells stained distinctively, but usually less intensely than mesenchyme. Epithelial cells from all levels of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory epithelium, transitional epithelium, and epidermis all showed strong staining with these antibodies. Other epithelial cell types were usually positive but showed less dramatic staining. Most epithelial tissues showed both nuclear and cytoplasmic staining; some also showed cell-surface (eg, cilia) staining. The role of these enzymes in cell differentiation of a stable organ was studied by immunostaining the kidney during its development. Early stroma (13- and 15-day fetuses) of the kidney (metanephric mesenchyme) showed strong cell-surface staining for glutathione transferases and moderate staining for glutathione peroxidase; renal tubules (which are epithelial cells) at this stage were negative for these markers. As renal tubules differentiated, first cytoplasm and then nuclei stained moderately, suggesting that glutathione-S-transferases and glutathione peroxidase are markers of both mesenchymal cells, including embryonic mesenchyme, and terminal differentiation of at least some epithelial cells.

Animals

Evaluation of the role of reactive oxygen species in doxorubicin hydrochloride nephrosis.

In subcellular systems, doxorubicin hydrochloride (ADR) leads to the generation of reactive oxygen species such as superoxide anion. Because reactive oxygen species have been shown to be important mediators of glomerular injury in several animal models, we sought to determine whether reactive oxygen species play a significant role in the pathogenesis of ADR-induced nephrotic syndrome in the rat. Rats pretreated with a variety of free radical scavengers (superoxide dismutase conjugated to polyethylene glycol [PEGSOD], catalase, catalase plus PEGSOD, dimethylsulfoxide, desferoxamine, or n-acetyl cysteine) had no significant reduction in proteinuria at 3 weeks after ADR administration when compared with rats receiving ADR in the absence of scavengers. No evidence was seen of increased lipid peroxidation or depletion of reduced glutathione in renal cortex tissue obtained up to 24 hours after administration of ADR. No changes were seen in the renal cortical levels of either enzyme activity or immunoreactive protein for the endogenous antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (either the Mn or CuZn forms) or catalase after ADR. Total and MnSOD activities in glomeruli isolated from rats after ADR administration fell significantly, though CuZnSOD activity was increased. The effect of ADR on cultured rat mesangial or epithelial cells was also evaluated. ADR inhibited growth of both cell types at concentrations of approximately 5 to 10 mumol/L, an order of magnitude below the reported Michaelis-Menten constant for ADR-induced superoxide production. The growth inhibitory effect could not be prevented in either cell type by treatment with PEGSOD, catalase, or PEGSOD plus catalase. This combination of results from in vivo and in vitro studies provides no evidence for an important role of reactive oxygen species in ADR nephrosis and suggests that other known mechanisms of ADR cytotoxicity, such as interference with DNA metabolism, mediate the glomerular injury.

Animals

Oxygen toxicity in control and H2O2-resistant Chinese hamster fibroblast cell lines.

Following exposure to 95% oxygen, clonogenic cell survival was assayed and qualitative morphologic changes were observed in a Chinese hamster fibroblast cell line (HA-1). The time in 95% O2 necessary to clonogenically inactivate 90% of the cells was inversely related to the cell density of the cultures at the beginning of hyperoxic exposure (from 1 to 6 X 10(4) cells/cm2). The O2-induced loss in clonogenicity and evidence of morphologic injury were shown to be significantly delayed (17-22 h) in an H2O2-resistant variant of the parental HA-1 cell line. After the delay in onset of clonogenic cell killing or morphologic injury, the process of injury proceeded in a similar fashion in both cell lines. The H2O2-resistant cell line demonstrated significantly greater catalase activity (20-fold), CuZn superoxide dismutase activity (2-fold), and Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase activity (1.5-fold). The greater activities of CuZn superoxide dismutase and catalase were accompanied by similarly greater quantities of immunoreactive protein as determined by immunoblotting. These data demonstrate that the cells adapted and/or selected for growth in a highly peroxidative environment also became refractory to O2-induced toxicity, which may be related to increased expression of antioxidant enzymes. However, the magnitude of this cross-resistance to O2 toxicity was less than the magnitude of the cellular resistance to the toxicity of exogenous H2O2, suggesting that in this system the toxicity of 95% oxygen is not identical to H2O2-mediated cytotoxicity.

Animals

Superoxide dismutase and media dependence of far-UV radiation resistance in thiol-treated cells.

Pretreatment of wild-type Escherichia coli K12 cells with dithiothreitol (DTT) induces far-UV radiation resistance after the thiol is removed (Claycamp 1988). The present study shows that a 1 h treatment of cells with DTT in minimal medium followed by a 0.5 h incubation in buffer (37 degrees C) results in a dose reduction factor (DRF) calculated at F37 of 1.81. When the thiol pretreatment was in rich medium, sensitization occurs with DRF = 0.729. This sensitization could be reversed to protection by inhibiting extracellular thiol oxidation in rich medium with the chelator, DETAPAC, such that the thiol oxidation rate was equivalent to that of DTT in minimal medium. Both thiol-induced resistance and sensitization produced changes predominantly in the shoulders of the survival curves. Furthermore, for either protection or sensitization, at least one form of endogenous superoxide dismutase (SOD) was required: in SOD-deficient cells (sodAsodB) the DRFs were 1.08 and 0.882 for minimal and rich media, respectively. These results suggest that different targets are involved in thiol-induced UV protection and sensitization: DNA and extracellular targets (e.g. the membrane), respectively. The results augment observations of alternate and multiple repair pathways inducible by oxygen radicals and may help understanding non-physicochemical thiol protection mechanisms.

Cell Survival

Immunohistochemical localization of antioxidant enzymes in adult Syrian hamster tissues and during kidney development.

Tissues from adult Syrian hamsters were studied with immunoperoxidase techniques using polyclonal antibodies to three antioxidant enzymes (copper, zinc and manganese forms of superoxide dismutase, and catalase). Tissues from labile organs, in which cell renewal is prominent (uterus, intestine, and transitional epithelium of the urinary tract), showed strong antioxidant enzyme immunostaining in differentiated cells but not in stem cells. In stable organs, in which cell renewal occurs at a high rate only in response to injury (kidney and adrenal), each cell type showed a specific pattern of antioxidant enzyme immunostaining. In permanent organs (brain and heart), antioxidant enzymes were regionally specific markers. Axons of the cerebellum showed more intense antioxidant enzyme staining than those of the cerebral cortex; in the heart, atria stained more intensely than ventricles. Germ cells of the testis resembled cell renewal systems in their antioxidant enzyme-immunostaining pattern: spermatogonia were negative, whereas spermatozoa were strongly positive. The tubules of the kidney showed no antioxidant enzyme immunostaining until after birth. Our results suggest that there is a prominent role for antioxidant enzymes in cell differentiation during development and cell renewal.

Animals

Antioxidant enzyme activities in normal and transformed mouse liver cells.

Copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), manganese-containing superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX, both Se-dependent and Se-independent), and glutathione reductase (GR) were measured in normal, nitrosoguanidine-transformed and SV40-transformed mouse liver cells in culture, as well as in mouse liver homogenates. Enzyme activities were compared on the basis of 3 different endpoints: per mg protein, per mg DNA, and per 10(6) cells. Except for GR, activity of all the measured anti-oxidant enzymes was much higher in vivo than in vitro. All of the anti-oxidant enzyme activities were lower in general in the 2 transformed cell lines than in the in vitro normal cell line, except Cu-ZnSOD, which showed little change. However, MnSOD was the only enzyme which showed lowered activity in both transformed cell lines, no matter what endpoint was used. This finding is in agreement with previous work showing lowered MnSOD activity in tumor cells.

Animals

Manganous superoxide dismutase is essential for cellular resistance to cytotoxicity of tumor necrosis factor.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) induces the synthesis of protein(s) that can protect cells against subsequent killing by TNF in the presence of cycloheximide. Here we demonstrate that manganous superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), a mitochondrial enzyme involved in the scavenging of superoxide radicals (O2-), is such a protein. Overexpression of MnSOD confers increased resistance to TNF plus cycloheximide on the 293 human embryonic kidney cell line. Conversely, expression of antisense MnSOD RNA renders these cells sensitive to TNF even in the absence of cycloheximide. The TNF sensitivity of the ME-180 human cervical carcinoma cell line can also be modulated through expression of sense and antisense MnSOD RNAs. These data identify MnSOD as an important determinant of cellular resistance to TNF and implicate mitochondrially generated O2- as a key component of TNF-mediated tumor cell killing.

Cell Line

An assay for superoxide dismutase activity in mammalian tissue homogenates.

During the course of measuring superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in rat breast tissue, interferences in the nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) and cytochrome c assay systems were noted. These interferences inhibit accurate measurement of SOD activity in breast tissues, necessitating the development of a new NBT-based assay that includes compounds capable of inhibiting tissue specific interferences. The most effective compounds were metal chelators that were also electron transport chain inhibitors. Bathocuproine sulfonate (BCS) was the most effective of these compounds. The inclusion of BCS in the NBT assay system was shown to make the accurate measurement of SOD activity in tissues with interferences possible.

Adenocarcinoma

Superoxide dismutase activities of differentiating clones from an immortal cell line.

We have studied superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in the X-REF-23 rat embryo fibroblast cell line. X-REF-23 is an immortal cell line that maintains a nontransformed phenotype throughout its known lifespan. Low-passage X-REF-23 cells undergo spontaneous differentiation into muscle and adipose cells, while high-passage X-REF-23 cells undergo little or no differentiation. SOD activities were measured in subclones of X-REF-23, which differentiate into muscle (AMC subclone) or adipose (AMB-J) cells, as well as the parental nondifferentiating X-REF-23 cells. Total SOD activity increased in all three cell lines with time in culture. Cu-ZnSOD was induced in the AMB-J and the X-REF-23 cells with time in culture, whereas the AMC cells showed no induction. MnSOD activity was induced during the time period in which differentiation occurred in the two differentiating clones. In contrast, MnSOD was not induced in this time period in the nondifferentiating X-REF-23 cell line. However, MnSOD activity was induced in the latter cell line at a much later time. Levels of immunoreactive MnSOD correlated quite well with MnSOD activity in all three cell lines. The nondifferentiating X-REF-23 cells, but not the two differentiating cells lines, showed a large increase in cell organelles with time in culture. In particular, an increase in very small mitochondria was observed; these mitochondria often showed evidence of disorganization.

Adipose Tissue

Relationship between changes in ploidy and stable cellular resistance to hydrogen peroxide.

Stable hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-resistant variants of the Chinese hamster ovary HA-1 line have been isolated by culturing cells in progressively increasing concentrations of H2O2 (greater than 200 days, in 50-800 microM H2O2). Increases in catalase activity in these variant cell lines were shown to correlate with increased H2O2 resistance. Stable (greater than 240 days) H2O2-resistant cell lines, seven quasidiploid (21-22 chromosomes/cell) and six quasitetraploid (40-44 chromosomes/cell) were clonally isolated from the 800 microM adapted H2O2-resistant variants which were heterogeneous with respect to ploidy. The H2O2 dose-modifying factors (DMFs) were 3, 5, 8, 13, 15, 26, and 27 for the seven quasidiploid cell lines, and 21, 32, 38, 40, 42, and 49 for the six quasitetraploid cell lines. The mean DMF was 14 +/- 10 for the former and 37 +/- 10 for the latter. Our data show that on the average the quasitetraploid cell lines were significantly more resistant to H2O2-mediated cell killing than the quasidiploid cell lines derived from the same mixed population of 800 microM H2O2-adapted cells. When catalase activities (k units/cell) of the HA-1 cells and three of the clonally derived cell lines (two quasidiploid and one quasitetraploid) were determined and plotted vs. H2O2-DMF, a positive linear correlation was obtained (correlation coefficient = 0.99). This result was further confirmed when immunoreactive catalase protein/cell was detected by Western blots. Our data show that chronic exposure of cells to H2O2 stress (800 microM) was accompanied by increases in quasitetraploid cells within the population. Quasitetraploid cell lines derived from this population demonstrated increased stable H2O2-resistance which may be related to stable increases in the expression of catalase.

Animals

Irradiation increases superoxide dismutase in rat intestinal smooth muscle.

We investigated whether X-irradiation could induce the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) in intestinal muscle. Groups of rats received abdominal irradiation and the time course and dose response for SOD activity determined. Jejunal smooth muscle homogenates were analyzed for the activities of copper/zinc (CuZn) and manganese (Mn) SOD activity and for a mitochondrial marker enzyme, citrate synthase. A progressive rise in Mn SOD activity occurred at 20, 46, and 72 h after 1500 R. No significant changes in Cu-Zn SOD activity occurred at any time after 1500 R. At 20 h after 250 R of X-irradiation, Mn SOD activity increased but no further increase occurred at higher irradiation exposures. At the same time, CuZn SOD activity at 20 h after irradiation was greater than controls only at an exposure of 1000 R (p less than 0.05). Using Western blotting, we were able to clearly demonstrate an increase in immunoreactive Mn SOD protein in muscle samples 20 h after 1500 R. The rise in Mn SOD is not simply due to increase in mitochondrial numbers or increase in all mitochondrial enzyme activities because activity of the mitochondrial marker enzyme citrate synthase was decreased after X-irradiation. Transmission electron microscopic studies demonstrated damage to mitochondria after a dose of 3000 R. The data yield evidence that free radicals play a role in irradiation-induced intestinal smooth muscle injury.

Animals

Manganese superoxide dismutase in normal and transformed human embryonic lung fibroblasts.

The manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) activity of W138 human embryonic lung fibroblasts and SV40-transformed WI38 cells was measured. Under various growth conditions, the transformed cells always had lower MnSOD activity than their normal cell counterparts. The activity of MnSOD changes greatly with the growth conditions in the WI38 cells, while the MnSOD activity in the tumor cells remained more constant. The amount of immunoreactive MnSOD was measured by Western blotting. In all cases studied, the amount of immunoreactive MnSOD was lower in the transformed cells than in the normal cells.

Blotting, Western