diamide and Reperfusion-Injury

Depolarization of the mitochondrial inner membrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)) associated with oxidative stress is thought to be a critical factor in cardiac dysfunction and cell injury following ischemia-reperfusion or exposure to cardiotoxic agents. In isolated cardiomyocytes, mitochondrially-generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) can readily trigger cell-wide collapse or oscillations of DeltaPsi(m) but it is not known whether these phenomena scale to the level of the whole heart. Here we utilize two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy to track DeltaPsi(m), ROS, and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in intact perfused guinea-pig hearts subjected to simulated ischemia reperfusion or GSH depletion with the thiol oxidizing agent diamide. Exposure to oxidative stress by either method provoked heterogeneous DeltaPsi(m) depolarization and occasional oscillation in clusters of myocytes in the epicardium in association with increased mitochondrial ROS production. Furthermore, the whole-heart oxidative stress dramatically increased the sensitivity of seemingly quiescent cells to DeltaPsi(m) depolarization induced by a localized laser flash. These effects were directly correlated with depletion of the intracellular GSH pool. Unexpectedly, hearts perfused with nominally Ca2+-free solution or those switched from 0.5 mM Ca2+ to nominally Ca2+-free solution also displayed heterogeneous DeltaPsi(m) depolarization and oscillation, in parallel with net oxidation of the GSH pool. The findings demonstrate that metabolic heterogeneity initiated by mitochondrial ROS-induced ROS release is present in the intact heart, and that the redox state of the glutathione pool is a key determinant of loss of DeltaPsi(m).

Topics: Animals; Calcium; Diamide; Glutathione; Guinea Pigs; Heart; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Mitochondria; Muscle Contraction; Myocardium; Oscillometry; Oxidative Stress; Reactive Oxygen Species; Reperfusion Injury

Freshly isolated adult rat heart myocytes contain total glutathione and reduced glutathione (GSH) at levels quite comparable to those in intact rat heart. Total glutathione can be depleted from 11 to 1 nmol/mg protein or less by treatment with cyclohex-2-ene-1-one without effect on either cellular ATP, rod-cell morphology or the integrity of the sarcolemma. Glutathione levels and redox state are not altered significantly when the Ca-tolerant, quiescent cells are subjected to a period of anoxia followed by reoxygenation. This oxygen paradox protocol results in irreversible hypercontracture of the contractile elements into an amorphous mass in the bulk of the cells, but little loss of sarcolemmal integrity. When the myocytes are subjected to an externally applied oxidant stress by the addition of either diamide or t-butylhydroperoxide, GSH is rapidly depleted with accumulation of oxidized glutathione (GSSG. On continued aerobic incubation both of these reagents promote a slower depletion of cellular ATP and a parallel hypercontracture. Cells treated with t-butylhydroperoxide, but not those with diamide, also generate increasing amounts of thiobarbituric acid reactive species as an indication of lipid peroxidation and show a parallel loss of sarcolemmal integrity. It is concluded that respiring myocytes and those subjected to the oxygen paradox do not produce oxygen radicals in sufficient amounts to displace the GSH/GSSG redox poise and depletion of myocyte glutathione per se is not detrimental to the short term survival of the cells. In addition, aerobic myocytes subjected to external oxidant stress can be damaged irreversibly by two pathways, a hypercontracture that correlates with depletion of ATP and a loss of sarcolemmal integrity that correlates with lipid peroxidation.

Topics: Animals; Coronary Disease; Cyclohexanones; Diamide; Glutathione; Heart; Hypoxia; Myocardium; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxygen; Peroxides; Rats; Reperfusion Injury; tert-Butylhydroperoxide