Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R J Flower.
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The inflammaogenic action of four extracellular phospholipases A2 was tested in the rat paw oedema model. Subplantar injection of microgram amounts of the venom phospholipases A2 from Vipera russeli, Naja mocambique mocambique and honey bee, or the porcine enzyme produced a rapid but transient oedematous response. The venom enzyme from Vipera was the most potent in this respect, the pancreatic enzyme the least. Pretreatment of the enzymes with para-bromophenacylbromide profoundly inhibited the ability of the enzymes to produce oedema. The inflammatory response produced by the phospholipases was insensitive to indomethacin, BW755C or the LTD4 antagonist L649,923 but was inhibited by the local administration of methysergide or, by pretreatment of the rats with dexamethasone. The PAF-antagonist BN 52021, but not WEB2086, was an effective inhibitor. Degranulation of mast cells seem the most likely explanation for the inflammatory action of these enzymes in the rat paw.
Lewis rats, sensitised for the autoimmune condition EAE received a range of doses of the steroid dexamethasone at various times post-inoculation in an attempt to modify the clinical course of the disease. Depending upon the dosing regime employed microgram quantities of the steroid were sufficient to significantly inhibit the clinical development of EAE and milligram doses of the drug completely suppressed the emergence of disease. Administration of the potent anti-glucocorticoid RU38486 to sensitised animals intensified the clinical course of EAE and reversed the steroid-induced inhibition of the disease. Furthermore, after the characteristic loss of neurological symptoms in rats receiving dexamethasone and RU38486, readministration of the anti-glucocorticoid resulted in clinical relapses in the majority of animals. The study emphasises the potent effects of exogenous, physiologically relevant doses of steroid on the course of EAE and, as a result of the observations made using RU38486, considers the role of endogenous steroids in the control of the disease in the rat.
Human recombinant lipocortin 1 has been tested for anti-inflammatory activity in a conventional model of acute inflammation. Microgram amounts of the protein, locally administered, inhibited edema of the rat paw when induced by subplantar injections of carrageenin: the ED50 was 10-20 micrograms per paw, and inhibition (maximum of 60-70%) was not dependent upon an intact adrenal cortex. Doses of lipocortin that produced approximately 50% inhibition in the carrageenin test were inactive against edema elicited by bradykinin, serotonin, platelet-activating factor-acether, or dextran, whereas edema caused by Naja mocambique venom phospholipase A2 was strongly inhibited by lipocortin. The protein inhibited edema when rats were pretreated with agents that depleted mast-cell amines, kininogen, or polymorphonuclear leukocytes prior to initiation of the carrageenin edema but had no inhibitory action when rats were pretreated with the dual cyclooxygenase/lipoxygenase inhibitor BW 755C. These results demonstrate that human recombinant lipocortin has potent local anti-inflammatory activity, probably through selectively interfering with eicosanoid generation. Lipocortin is relatively ineffective against edema caused by mast-cell degranulation or kinins, except when degranulation is caused by phospholipase A2.
Corticosteroids may mediate some of their anti-inflammatory effects via induction of a specific 38 kD protein, lipocortin-1. Autoantibodies to lipocortin-1 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 90 healthy subjects and in 63 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 36 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 26 with polymyalgia rheumatica, and 13 with chronic airways disease. Sixteen patients with RA receiving prolonged, high steroid doses (prednisolone greater than 7.5 mg/day) had raised IgM antilipocortin-1 levels, while 19 patients with RA untreated with steroids had normal levels. This association was independent of disease activity. In SLE, raised antilipocortin-1 levels were associated with active disease and were independent of steroid treatment. Antilipocortin-1 antibody levels were not raised in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica and chronic airways disease. Thus steroid treatment alone appears insufficient to induce antilipocortin-1 antibodies, unless an underlying autoimmune state is also present. In RA, antilipocortin-1 antibodies may impair anti-inflammatory actions of steroids and render some patients 'steroid resistant'.
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We have devised a rapid and simple assay for estimating the binding of pancreatic phospholipase A2 to a bilayer lipid membrane. The binding was observed to be extremely rapid at 37 degrees and was absolutely dependent upon Ca2+. Amongst several drugs known to inhibit the catalytic activity of phospholipase only mepacrine at high concentrations (500 microM) and chlorpromazine (100 microM) were active. Treatment of the enzyme with p-bromophenacylbromide did not inhibit binding. Several alcohols potentiated binding whereas detergents tended to inhibit. Amongst several purified proteins tested, only the steroid-induced anti-phospholipase protein lipocortin prevented binding. The use of this assay in screening for antiphospholipase agents is discussed.
Submicromolar concentrations of human recombinant Lipocortin 1 inhibit the release of prostacyclin from human umbilical artery rings in a dose-dependent fashion. This is the first demonstration that the recombinant protein is effective in human cells.
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Carrageenin pleurisy was induced in adrenalectomised (ADX) and sham-operated (SHO) rats. The magnitude and duration of inflammation, as estimated by fluid exudation and cell migration, was greatly increased (approximately doubled) in ADX rats compared with that in their SHO controls. The content of eicosanoids (6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha (6-keto-PGF 1 alpha), thromboxane B2 (TXB2), and leukotriene B4 (LTB4] in inflammatory exudates from ADX rats was significantly (2-4 fold) greater than that of their SHO controls. Resident macrophages obtained from ADX rats produced more eicosanoids per cell per unit time when stimulated in vitro with zymosan, than did cells from the SHO controls. Administration of glucocorticoids blocked the inflammatory response and reduced the release of eicosanoids both in vitro and in vivo in both groups of rats. These data are consistent with the notion that physiological amounts of glucocorticoids exert a tonic inhibitory action on phospholipase activity in normal animals and that the increased secretion of these hormones during the inflammatory response serves to check and control the development of inflammation.
Hydrocortisone and the glucocorticoid-induced anti-phospholipase protein macrocortin, were tested as inhibitors of PAF generation. The steroid produced a dose-dependent inhibition of the release of the PAF precursor 2-lyso-PAF, and this effect was mimicked by affinity-purified macrocortin. Neither agent had any effect on the acetylation of lyso-PAF to PAF. Of other drugs tested only phospholipase inhibitors blocked lyso-PAF release and sulphydryl reagents blocked the acetylation step. It is concluded that glucocorticoids inhibit the generation of PAF and this could be an important component of their anti-anaphylactic and anti-inflammatory action.
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Glucocorticoid-induced anti-phospholipase proteins were partially purified by using ion-exchange and molecular sieve chromatography. These proteins, as well as dexamethasone itself, inhibited the hind-paw rat oedema induced by carrageenin. This inhibition was reversed by arachidonic acid, Anti-phospholipase proteins as well as hydrocortisone, also reduced the formation of prostaglandin E2 and leukotriene B4 by phagocytosing leucocytes. A specific monoclonal antibody was able to reverse the inhibition of eicosanoid formation. The mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effect of glucocorticoids and anti-phospholipase proteins is discussed in the light of these results.
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