1-3-dimethylthiourea and Inflammation

Sepsis/multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is a major cause of high mortality in the intensive care unit. We have recently reported that 100% oxygen treatment is beneficial to mice with zymosan-induced sterile inflammation by increasing antioxidant enzymatic activities. Yet, the use of hyperoxia is hindered by concerns that it could exacerbate organ injury by increasing free radical formation. It is believed that systemic inflammation and overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to the mechanism underlying sepsis/MODS. A ROS scavenger has been proven to protect against sepsis/MODS in some animal models. Therefore, we hypothesized that ROS scavenger pretreatment might enhance the protective action of 100% oxygen treatment against zymosan-induced sterile inflammation in mice. In the present study, we showed that 100% oxygen treatment prevented the abnormal changes in serum biochemical parameters, tissue oxygenation, and organ histopathology, and improved the 14-day survival rate in zymosan-stimulated mice, indicating that 100% oxygen treatment had a protective action on sterile inflammation. We found that pretreatment with a ROS scavenger (N-acetylcysteine, vitamin C, or dimethylthiourea) abolished this protective action of 100% oxygen treatment. We also showed that 100% oxygen treatment decreased the levels of serum proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-6, and high-mobility group box 1), increased the level of serum anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10), and upregulated the activities of serum and tissue antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) in zymosan-stimulated mice, which were reversed by the pretreatment with a ROS scavenger (N-acetylcysteine, vitamin C, or dimethylthiourea). We thus conclude that ROS scavenger pretreatment partly abolishes the protective effects of 100% oxygen treatment on sterile inflammation in mice by regulating inflammatory cytokines as well as antioxidant enzymes.

Topics: Acetylcysteine; Animals; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Cytokines; Free Radical Scavengers; Heart; Inflammation; Kidney; Liver; Lung; Male; Mice; Multiple Organ Failure; Myocardium; Oxygen; Reactive Oxygen Species; Sepsis; Thiourea; Zymosan

The present study was to investigate 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced inflammatory response and underlying mechanisms in the urinary bladder in anesthetized male rats of Long-Evans strain. The magnitude of inflammation was evaluated by morphometric analysis of the relative number of leaky blood vessels expressed by the area density of India ink-labeled blood vessels in whole mount specimens. Light and scanning electron microscopies were employed to study the changes in histologic structure and endothelial ultrastructure of bladder wall. Local injection of 6-OHDA to lumen of urinary bladder induced a dose-dependent increase in plasma leakage. Following application of vehicle, 5 mg/kg 6-OHDA, and 10 mg/kg 6-OHDA, area densities of India ink-labeled leaky vessels were 5.65+/-3.72% (N=6), 22.63+/-5.12% (N=6), and 35.02+/-11.25% (N=6), respectively. Inflammatory response was completely abolished by pretreatment alone with dimethylthiourea (DMTU), a hydroxyl radical scavenger, and was also attenuated by pretreatment with L-732,138, a NK1 receptor antagonist. 6-OHDA caused edema formation and venular endothelial gap formation in bladder tissue. It is concluded that 6-OHDA induced inflammation in the rat urinary bladder, the response of which was dose-dependently increased and free radicals and tachykinins were involved in the inflammatory process.

Topics: Animals; Capillary Leak Syndrome; Capillary Permeability; Cystitis; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Inflammation; Male; Oxidopamine; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Thiourea; Urinary Bladder

Laryngopharyngeal or gastroesophageal reflux is associated with laryngeal airway hyperreactivity (LAH), but neither the cause-effect relationship nor the underlying mechanism has been elucidated. Here we established a rat model with enhanced laryngeal reflex reactivity induced by laryngeal acid-pepsin insult and investigated the neural and hydroxyl radical (*OH) mechanisms involved. The laryngeal segments of 103 anesthetized rats were functionally isolated while animals breathed spontaneously. Ammonia vapor was delivered into the laryngeal segment to measure laryngeal reflex reactivity. We found that the laryngeal pH 5-pepsin treatment doubled the reflex apneic response to ammonia, whereas laryngeal pH 7.4-pepsin, pH 2-pepsin, and pH 5-denatured pepsin treatment had no effect. Histological examination revealed limited laryngeal inflammation and epithelial damage after pH 5-pepsin treatment and more severe damage after pH 2-pepsin treatment. In rats that had received the laryngeal pH 5-pepsin treatment, the apneic response to ammonia was abolished by either denervation or perineural capsaicin treatment (PCT; a procedure that selectively blocks capsaicin-sensitive afferent fibers) of the superior laryngeal nerves, but was unaffected by perineural sham treatment. LAH was prevented by laryngeal application of either dimethylthiourea (DMTU; a *OH scavenger) or deferoxamine (DEF; an antioxidant for *OH), but was unaltered by the DMTU vehicle or iron-saturated DEF (ineffective DEF). LAH reappeared after recovery from PCT, DMTU, or DEF treatment. We conclude that 1) laryngeal insult by pepsin at a weakly acidic pH, but not at acidic pH, can produce LAH; and 2) LAH is probably mediated through sensitization of the capsaicin-sensitive laryngeal afferent fibers by a *OH mechanism.

Topics: Action Potentials; Ammonia; Animals; Antioxidants; Blood Pressure; Capsaicin; Deferoxamine; Electrophysiology; Free Radical Scavengers; Gastroesophageal Reflux; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hydroxyl Radical; Inflammation; Laryngeal Muscles; Male; Neurons, Afferent; Pepsin A; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Thiourea

Insight into the mechanism(s) by which ambient air particulate matter (PM) mediates adverse health effects is needed to provide biological plausibility to epidemiological studies demonstrating associations between PM exposure and increased morbidity and mortality. Although in vitro PM studies provide an understanding of mechanisms by which PM affects pulmonary cells, it is difficult to extrapolate from in vitro to in vivo mechanisms of PM-induced lung injury. We examined in vivo mechanisms of lung injury generated by oil combustion particles. Rats were pretreated with dimethylthiourea (DMTU) before intratracheal instillation of residual oil fly ash (ROFA). Animals were examined by bronchoalveolar lavage for biomarkers of lung injury, and lung tissues were examined by immunohistochemical, biochemical, and molecular approaches to identify ROFA-induced alterations in intracellular signaling pathways and proinflammatory gene expression. Significant increases in pulmonary inflammation, cytotoxicity, activation of ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and increases in mRNA levels encoding macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, MCP-1 and matrilysin were observed. DMTU pretreatment inhibited ROFA-induced pulmonary inflammation, cytotoxicity, ERK MAPK activation, and cytokine gene expression. Our findings provide coherence with in vitro PM mechanistic information, allow direct in vitro to in vivo extrapolation, and demonstrate a critical role for oxidative stress in ROFA-induced lung injury and associated molecular pathology.

Topics: Air Pollutants; Animals; Bronchoalveolar Lavage; Cytokines; Free Radical Scavengers; Gene Expression Regulation; Immunohistochemistry; Incineration; Inflammation; Lung; Male; Oxidative Stress; Particle Size; Petroleum; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Signal Transduction; Thiourea