Production of hydrogen peroxide and methionine sulfoxide by epigallocatechin gallate and antioxidants.

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) induced apoptosis-associated characteristics in human oral tumor cell lines more efficiently than ascorbates, gallic acid, vitamin K, flavonoids or steroidal saponins. Since catalase partially inhibited the cytotoxic activity of EGCG, the possible involvement of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in cell death induction was investigated, using TCPO chemiluminescence method. Production of H2O2 by EGCG, sodium ascorbate, gallic acid or catechin reached a maximum level within 30 minutes, and was increased up to a plateau level above pH 8. Under optimal conditions, 1 mM EGCG was converted to 1 mM H2O2. At neutral pH, EGCG produced the highest amount of H2O2, followed by gallic acid, sodium ascorbate and catechin. EGCG produced methionine sulfoxide from methionine in the culture medium, while the methionine oxidation by EGCG was significantly reduced in the presence of serum. ESR spectroscopy showed that EGCG, gallic acid and sodium ascorbate, but not catechin, produced radicals under alkaline condition and that all these compounds scavenged superoxide anion, produced by hypoxanthine-xanthine oxidase reaction. EGCG also effectively scavenged the ascorbate and gallate radicals, more efficiently than other compounds. These data suggest that the apoptosis induction by EGCG may be mediated by H2O2 produced in the culture medium.

Radical intensity and carcinogenic activity of benz[c]acridines.

Among 13 benz[c]acridines, six 7-methyl-substituted compounds (7-methylbenz[c]acridine, 7,9-dimethylbenz[c]acridine, 7,10-dimethylbenz[c]acridine, 7,11-dimethylbenz[c]acridine, 7,9,10-trimethylbenz[c]acridine, 7,9,11-trimethylbenz[c]acridine) were carcinogenic, while the other seven compounds (benz[c] acridine, 8-methylbenz[c]acridine, 9-methylbenz[c]acridine, 10-methylbenz[c]acridine, 11-methylbenz[c]acridine, 5,7-dimethylbenz[c]acridine, cis-5,6-dihydroxy-5,6-dihydrobenz[c]acridine) were inactive. Using both McLachlan-Hückel molecular orbital (McLachlan-HMO) and HMO methods, all the carcinogenic compounds were shown to have the elevated pi-spin density at 12th nitrogen atom of their molecules, as compared with noncarcinogenic compounds. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, however, revealed that both carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic compounds produced no detectable amounts of radical. This is in contrast to ascorbates, gallates and benzo[a]phenothiazines, which induced apoptosis by radical mediated mechanism(s). Amino acid analysis demonstrated that methionine oxidation is not involved in the induction of carcinogenic activity by benz[c]acridines.

Effect of Trolox, a synthetic analog of alpha-tocopherol, on cytotoxicity induced by UV irradiation and antioxidants.

The addition of Trolox, a synthetic analog of alpha-tocopherol, significantly reduced the cytotoxicity induced by UV irradiation and antioxidants, such as ascorbate, gallate and caffeate. Ascorbate and gallate, but not UV irradiation, stimulated the oxidation of methionine to methionine sulfoxide in the culture medium, possibly because of their prooxidant actions. Trolox slightly, but significantly reduced the methionine oxidation. On the other hand, alpha-tocopherol showed a much lower protective effect against ascorbate and gallate-induced cytotoxicity, and failed to reduce the methionine oxidation induced by these agents. ESR spectroscopy showed that both Trolox and alpha-tocopherol did not significantly change the radical intensity of ascorbate and gallate. The present study suggests that the antioxidative efficacy of Trolox surpasses that of alpha-tocopherol.

Effect of methionine depletion on growth and apoptosis in various tumor cell lines.

Sodium ascorbate, sodium 5,6-benzylidene-L-ascorbate (SBA), gallic acid and caffeic acid induced apoptotic cell death in human myelogenous leukemic cell lines, and stimulated oxidation of methionine into methionine sulfoxide in the culture medium. When various tumor cell lines were cultured in methionine-free medium, their growth was nearly terminated at G1 phase of the cell cycle, producing much smaller number of apoptotic cells. Addition of methionine sulfoxide to the methionine-free medium did not stimulate the apoptosis induction. These data suggest that induction of apoptosis by ascorbates, gallate or by caffeate cannot be simply explained by methionine oxidation.

Copper, but not iron, enhances apoptosis-inducing activity of antioxidants.

Addition of either CuCl or CuCl2 significantly enhanced sodium ascorbate or sodium 5,6-benzylidene-L-ascorbate (SBA)-induced cytotoxicity and internucleosomal DNA cleavage in human promyelocytic leukemic HL-60 cells. On the other hand, the addition of either FeCl2 or FeCl3 inhibited the cytotoxic activity of ascorbate. These effects were observed even if the cells were exposed for only 20 minutes to metals and ascorbates. Copper also stimulated the gallate or caffeate-induced apoptotic cell death, whereas iron was inhibitory. Both copper and iron enhanced the radical intensity of ascorbates, but slightly reduced the radical intensity of gallate and caffeate, suggesting that radical intensity is not the sole determinant of apoptosis induction. Metals did not significantly change the methionine oxidation stimulated by ascorbate, gallate or caffeate. Methionine oxidation may not be indispensable for antioxidant-induced apoptosis.

Methionine oxidation and apoptosis induction by ascorbate, gallate and hydrogen peroxide.

Addition of either ascorbate, gallate, caffeate or hydrogen peroxide to the culture medium stimulated the oxidation of free methionine to methionine sulfoxide, regardless of the presence or absence of the cells. In methionine-free medium, growth of human myelogenous leukemic cell lines was nearly stopped by G1 arrest, without induction of internucleosomal DNA cleavage. Methionine sulfoxide, a major oxidation product of methionine, was neither growth-promoting nor cytotoxic. On the other hand, methional, a deamination and decarboxylation product of methionine, was highly cytotoxic. The present study suggests that the apoptosis induction by these antioxidants and oxidant cannot simply be explained by methionine oxidation or depletion.

[Quantitative estimation of the relationship between amino acids and cataracts in rat lens].

The concentration of free amino acids and their related compounds has been determined in the lenses of ICR (f) strain rat and in the Wistar strain rat's lenses which were cultured with diethyl maleate. It was supposed that the decrease of cystathionine and the increase of serine in lenses of ICR with aging were related with development of senile cataracts. The increase of cystathionine in lenses cultured were suggested that synthesis of taurine is done by cystathionine pathway. Quantitative changes of amino acids were higher than normal of glutamine, glycine and aspartate in lenses cultured. It was supposed that the changes were the flow in lens from medium for synthesis of glutathione and glucose.

Purification and properties of steroid sulfatase from human placenta.

Steroid sulfatase was purified approximately 170-fold from normal human placental microsomes and properties of the enzyme were investigated. The major steps in the purification procedure included solubilization with Triton X-100, column chromatofocusing, and hydrophobic interaction chromatography on phenylsepharose CL-4B. The purified sulfatase showed a molecular weight of 500-600 kDa on HPLC gel filtration, whereas the enzyme migrated as a molecular mass of 73 kDa on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The isoelectric point of steroid sulfatase was estimated to be 6.7 by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gel in the presence of 2% Triton X-100. The addition of phosphatidylcholine did not enhance the enzyme activity in the placental microsomes obtained from two patients with placental sulfatase deficiency (PSD) after solubilization and chromatofocusing. This result indicates that PSD is the result of a defect in the enzyme rather than a defect in the membrane-enzyme structure. Amino acid analysis revealed that the purified human placental sulfatase did not contain cysteine residue. The Km and Vmax values of the steroid sulfatase for dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHA-S) were 7.8 microM and 0.56 nmol/min, while those for estrone sulfate (E1-S) were 50.6 microM and 0.33 nmol/min, respectively. The results of the kinetic study suggest the substrate specificity of the purified enzyme, but further studies should be done with different substrates and inhibitors.