diethyl-maleate and homocysteic-acid

The relationship between l-cystine transport and intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels was investigated in cultured pancreatic AR42J acinar and betaTC3 islet cells exposed to diethylmaleate, an electrophilic agent known to activate cellular antioxidant responses. Cystine transport was mediated predominantly by the Na+-independent anionic amino acid transport system x-c, with influx inhibited potently by glutamate and homocysteate but unaffected by cationic or neutral amino acids. Saturable cystine transport was 10-fold higher in AR42J (531 pmol (mg protein)-1 min-1) than in betaTC3 (49 pmol (mg protein)-1 min-1) cells, and GSH levels were higher in AR42J cells. Treatment with 2-mercaptoethanol increased GSH levels in betaTC3 cells from 7.5 to 36 nmol (mg protein)-1, whilst the GSH content in AR42J cells (64 nmol (mg protein)-1) was not altered significantly. Incubation of AR42J or betaTC3 cells with homocysteate (2.5 mM, 0-48 h), a competitive inhibitor of cystine transport via system x-c, reduced intracellular GSH levels and resulted in a time-dependent (6-24 h) induction of system x-c transport activity. Treatment of AR42J cells with diethylmaleate (100 microM, 0-48 h) resulted in a time- (5-10 h) and protein synthesis-dependent induction of cystine transport, with intracellular GSH levels initially decreasing and then increasing 2-fold above control levels after 24 h. Diethylmaleate also depressed GSH levels in betaTC3 cells, but cystine transport was not elevated significantly. In both AR42J and betaTC3 cells, inhibition of gamma-glutamyl cysteine synthetase by buthionine sulphoximine (100 microM, 24 h) reduced GSH levels but had no effect on cystine transport. The present findings establish that induction of system x-c leads to changes in GSH levels in pancreatic AR42J acinar and betaTC3 islet cells, with changes in the intracellular redox state stimulating transporter expression. Induction of activity of system x-c, together with adaptive increases in GSH synthesis in response to oxidative stress, may contribute to cellular antioxidant defences in pancreatic disease.

Topics: Amino Acid Transport Systems, Basic; Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral; Animals; Biological Transport; Buthionine Sulfoximine; Carrier Proteins; Cell Line; Cystine; Glutathione; Homocysteine; Islets of Langerhans; Maleates; Mercaptoethanol; Mice; Rats; Time Factors

The transport of cystine has been investigated in mouse peritoneal macrophages cultured in vitro. The transport activity for cystine was very low in freshly isolated macrophages but was potently induced during culture in the presence of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at concentrations as low as 0.1 ng/ml. The transport activity for cystine was enhanced when the cells were incubated with tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), but not with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) or interleukin-1. IFN-gamma was rather repressive in the induction of the activity by LPS or TNF-alpha. The transport activity for cystine induced by LPS has been characterized. Cystine was transported mainly by Na(+)-independent system and the uptake of cystine was inhibited by extracellular glutamate and homocysteate, but not by aspartate, indicating that the transport of cystine in macrophages treated with LPS is mediated by System xc-. Glutathione content of the macrophages increased when they were exposed to LPS, and this increase was, at least in part, attributable to the induced activity of the cystine transport.

Topics: Amino Acids; Animals; Biological Transport; Cells, Cultured; Cystine; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Glutamic Acid; Glutathione; Homocysteine; Interferon-gamma; Interleukin-1; Kinetics; Lipopolysaccharides; Macrophages, Peritoneal; Maleates; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Recombinant Proteins; Salmonella typhi; Serine; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Zymosan