Tiron protects against nicotine-induced lung and liver injury through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions in rats in vivo.

AIMS: Tobacco smoking is a major health problem associated with lung and liver damage. Lung and liver damage secondary to tobacco smoking is mediated through nicotine-induced oxidative stress. Therefore, we hypothesized that antioxidant treatment with tiron may improve nicotine-induced lung and liver damage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rats were divided into six groups, a control, nicotine (10 mg/kg/day, i.p.; for 8 weeks) and tiron (100 or 200 mg/kg/day, i.p.; for 8 weeks) with or without nicotine administration. KEY FINDINGS: Tiron improved survival rate and attenuated lung and liver damage as reflected by decreased total and differential cell counts, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and decreased alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in serum; also histopathological examination confirmed the protective effect of tiron in lung and liver tissues of nicotine treated rats. Tiron attenuated dyslipidemia, which is associated with nicotine. These ameliorative effects of tiron may be mainly due to its antioxidant effect as proved by a significant decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) content, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and total nitrite/nitrate (NOx) levels, and increase in reduced glutathione (GSH) level, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities. This is likely related to suppression of protein levels of NADPH oxidase enzyme (NOX1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α); and up-regulation of protein levels of nuclear factor erythroid-2 (Nrf2). SIGNIFICANCE: This makes tiron (synthetic analogue of vitamin E) good candidate for future use to minimize nicotine's hazards among smokers.

Serum level of Xanthine oxidase, Uric Acid, and NADPH oxidase1 in Stage I of Multiple Myeloma.

OBJECTIVE: The etiology of multiple myeloma (MM) is not known. Enzymes such as xanthine oxidase (XO) and NADPH oxidase 1 (NOX1) as relevant sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production may play a crucial role in the incidence and progress of MM. Uric acid generated by XO has a controversial dual role in both the prevention and promotion of cancer. We conducted a case-control study and selected patients with stage I MM to investigate the status of XO, NOX1, and uric acid in the patients and controls. METHODS: We used a sample of 33 patients with stage I MM and 30 healthy controls. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) measured the enzyme concentration of XO and NOX1, and the colorimetric method measured the serum level of uric acid. RESULTS: Mean serum levels for XO in patients and controls were 6.17±0.83 ng/ml and 4.12±0.57 ng/ml (P<0.001). serum levels of NOX1 were 4.35±1.03 ng/ml in patients and 3.54±0.91 ng/ml in controls (P<0.001). Evaluating the levels of XO and NOX1 in male and female populations showed a significant difference in the male population (NOX1 P=0.002; XO P<0.001) and female population (NOX1 P=0.002; XO P<0.001). Also, a significant correlation was observed between the two enzymes only in the female population (Pearson correlation=0.5; P=0.006). A significant inverse correlation found between albumin and XO (Pearson correlation=-0.7, P<0.001) and NOX1 (Pearson correlation=-0.5, P<0.001). XO was correlated with B2-m (Pearson correlation=0.37, P=0.003). There was no significant difference in uric acid between patients (6.2±1.2 mg/dl) and controls (5.7±1 mg/dl) (P=0.2), and no correlation was found with XO. CONCLUSION: The present study indicates the possible role of XO and NOX 1 in the etiology of MM. Although we found no correlation between uric acid and XO, further studies will help clarify the function of uric acid in the pathogenesis of MM.
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NOX-mediated impairment of PDGF-induced DNA synthesis in peripheral blood lymphocytes of children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome.

BackgroundCellular oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and immunogenic events are involved in pathogenesis of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS); however, the exact mechanism remains unknown. We examined NADPH oxidase (NOX) activity and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-induced DNA synthesis in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of patients with INS.MethodsPBL from 15 patients with INS and 15 age- and gender-matched controls were isolated, and enzyme activities of NOX, catalase, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured along with the assay of malondialdehyde levels and bromo-deoxyuridine incorporation. Protein expression of NOX-1 was measured using western blot analysis.ResultsPatients with INS had significantly (P<0.01) higher NOX activity and increased protein expression of NOX-1 in PBL as compared with controls. Catalase and SOD activities were markedly lower with lipid peroxide levels significantly (P<0.01) increased in patients with INS. Ex vivo DNA synthesis in PDGF-stimulated PBL was significantly (P<0.01) reduced in patients with INS; however, diphenyliodonium, an inhibitor of NOX, markedly corrected impairment in growth factor-induced BrdU incorporation.ConclusionsThese results show that NOX activation might have a role in regulation of lymphocytic activity in patients with INS through the impairment of PDGF mitogenic function and might contribute toward pathogenesis of nephrotic syndrome.