Modulation of white adipose tissue lipolysis by nitric oxide.

In isolated adipocytes, the nitrosothiols S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP) and S-nitrosoglutathione stimulate basal lipolysis, whereas the nitric oxide (NO.) donor 1-propamine, 3-(2-hydroxy-2-nitroso-1-propylhydrazine) (PAPA-NONOate) or NO gas have no effect. The increase in basal lipolysis due to nitrosothiols was prevented by dithiothreitol but not by a guanylate cyclase inhibitor. In addition the cyclic GMP-inhibited low Km, cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity was inhibited by SNAP suggesting that SNAP acting as NO+ donor increases basal lipolysis through a S-nitrosylation mediated inhibition of phosphodiesterase. Contrasting with these findings, SNAP reduced both isoproterenol-stimulated lipolysis and cyclic AMP production, whereas it failed to modify forskolin-, dibutyryl cyclic AMP-, or isobutylmethylxanthine-stimulated lipolysis, suggesting that SNAP interferes with the beta-adrenergic signal transduction pathway upstream the adenylate cyclase. In contrast with SNAP, PAPA-NONOate or NO gas inhibited stimulated lipolysis whatever the stimulating agents used without altering cyclic AMP production. Moreover PAPA-NONOate slightly reduces (30%) the hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) activity indicating that stimulated lipolysis inhibition by NO. is linked to both inhibition of the HSL activity and the cyclic AMP-dependent activation of HSL. These data suggest that NO. or related redox species like NO+/NO- are potential regulators of lipolysis through distinct mechanisms.

White adipose tissue nitric oxide synthase: a potential source for NO production.

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity was detected in soluble and membranous fractions of adipose tissue homogenates of control rats. After LPS-treatment, this activity was (i) markedly increased (about 10-fold) in both fractions, (ii) unaltered after dexamethasone pretreatment, (iii) partly calcium-calmodulin sensitive, and (iv) almost entirely accounted by the NOS activity found in isolated adipocytes. In adipose tissue homogenates from control rats, Western blot analysis demonstrated the presence of the endothelial (eNOS) isoform in the membranous fraction of control rats and of the inducible (iNOS) isoform in the soluble and membranous fractions. After LPS treatment, the amount of immunoreactive iNOS protein was dramatically increased, suggesting that adipose tissue is an important site of NO production during the endotoxic shock.

Mitochondrial respiratory activity and superoxide radical generation in the liver, brain and heart after chronic ethanol intake.

Functional characteristics of mitochondria isolated from liver, brain and heart were studied in ethanol-fed rats using ethanol administration in drinking water as a model of moderate alcohol intoxication. Our results show a slight decrease in liver cytochrome aa3 content, the mitochondrial alteration which is most consistently observed during chronic ethanol feeding. In liver and heart mitochondria, ethanol consumption led to an increase in state 3 respiration with NAD(+)-linked substrates, whereas no changes were apparent in respiration rates with succinate as substrate. However a decrease was found in state 3 respiration with succinate in brain mitochondria isolated from ethanol-fed rats. Submitochondrial particles (SMP) were used to study the superoxide radical (O2-.) production at the level of antimycin-inhibited regions of the respiratory chain. It appears that there is no clear correlation between ethanol effects on respiration and O2-. production. Whereas O2-. generation remained unchanged in heart mitochondria, an elevation of O2-. generation was observed in brain mitochondria, and in contrast, the rate of O2-. production was decreased in liver mitochondria of the ethanol-group in comparison to the control-group. Our findings support a tissue specificity for the toxic effects of ethanol towards the mitochondria and indicate that mitochondrial free radical mechanisms are involved in ethanol-induced toxicity in the brain.

Gamma and pulse radiolysis investigation of the reaction of desferrioxamine with superoxide anions.

The kinetic scheme of the reaction of desferrioxamine (DFO) with O2-. was studied using pulse and gamma-radiolysis. The rate constant k(O2-. + DFO) is equal to 1.3 +/- 0.1 x 10(6) dm3 mol-1s-1 at pH 7.4. Studying the competition between DFO and ferricytochrome-c for O2-. generated by gamma-radiolysis, we observed that the nitroxide free radical resulting from the reaction of O2-. with DFO and the product(s) resulting from the decay of this nitroxide radical act inversely towards the cytochrome-c-Fe3+/cytochrome-c-Fe2+ redox couple. This explains the discrepancy between our value of k(O2-. + DFO) and the one measured previously using ferricytochrome-c for the detection of O2-. The reported results show that DFO acts as a powerful O2-. scavenger, and that the products resulting from the reaction of DFO with O2-. can initiate oxidative and/or reductive reactions that should be taken into account in interpreting the effects of DFO in vitro and in vivo.

Mitochondrial generation of superoxide free radicals during acute ethanol intoxication in the rat.

Two hours after an acute ethanol load (50 mmol/kg, i.p.), brain mitochondrial superoxide production was unchanged. This is contrary to our previous findings concerning liver mitochondria. On the other hand, the ethanol treatment caused a marked inhibition of respiration stimulated by phosphate plus ADP (with succinate or pyruvate plus malate as substrates) (state 3) in the brain mitochondria, whereas it did not exert any modification on the hepatic mitochondrial electron transport chain.

Hepatic catalase and superoxide dismutases after acute ethanol administration in rats.

The administration of an acute ethanol load (2.3 g/kg, IP) to rats is followed by a decrease of the hepatic activity of cytosolic catalase, a decrease which precedes a reduction in the cytosolic Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Desferrioxamine, an iron chelator and scavenger of superoxide radicals, administered prior to ethanol, prevents the changes in the cytosolic catalase activity, changes which are unaffected by the administration of allopurinol, an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase. These data favour the hypothesis that acute ethanol results in an overproduction of oxygen free radicals which affects primarily the cytosolic catalase activity and increases hereby susceptibility of Cu, Zn-SOD to these radicals. They suggest also that xanthine oxidase does not play a major role in oxygen radical production in the liver cytosol during acute alcohol intoxication.

Inhibition in vitro of acyl-CoA dehydrogenases by 2-mercaptoacetate in rat liver mitochondria.

In rat liver hypo-osmotically treated mitochondria, 2-mercaptoacetate inhibits respiration induced by palmitoyl-CoA, octanoate or butyryl-CoA only when the reaction medium is supplemented with ATP. Under this condition, NADH-stimulated respiration is not affected. In liver mitochondrial matrix, the presence of ATP is also required to observe a 2-mercaptoacetate-induced inhibition of acyl-CoA dehydrogenases tested with palmitoyl-CoA, butyryl-CoA or isovaleryl-CoA as substrate. As the oxidation of these substrates is also inhibited by the incubation medium resulting from the reaction of 2-mercaptoacetate with acetyl-CoA synthase, with conditions under which 2-mercaptoacetate has no effect, 2-mercaptoacetyl-CoA seems to be the likely inhibitory metabolite responsible for the effects of 2-mercaptoacetate. Kinetic experiments show that the main effect of the 2-mercaptoacetate-active metabolite is to decrease the affinities of fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenases towards palmitoyl-CoA or butyryl-CoA and of isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase towards isovaleryl-CoA. Addition of N-ethylmaleimide to mitochondrial matrix pre-exposed to 2-mercaptoacetate results in the immediate reversion of the inhibitions of palmitoyl-CoA and isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenations and in a delayed reversion of butyryl-CoA dehydrogenation. These results led us to conclude that (i) the ATP-dependent conversion of 2-mercaptoacetate into an inhibitory metabolite takes place in the liver mitochondrial matrix and (ii) the three fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenases and isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase are mainly competitively inhibited by this compound. Finally, the present study also suggests that the inhibitory metabolite of 2-mercaptoacetate may bind non-specifically to, or induce conformational changes at, the acyl-CoA binding sites of these dehydrogenases.

Effects of 2-mercaptoacetate in isolated liver mitochondria in vitro. Competitive inhibition of 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase and depression of the beta-oxidation pathway.

The effects of 2-mercaptoacetate on the respiration rates induced by different substrates were studied in vitro in isolated liver mitochondria. With palmitoyl-L-carnitine or 2-oxoglutarate as the substrate, the ADP-stimulated respiration (State 3) was dose-dependently inhibited by 2-mercaptoacetate. with glutamate or succinate as the substrate. State-3 respiration was only slightly inhibited by 2-mercaptoacetate. In contrast, the oxidation rate of 3-hydroxybutyrate was competitively inhibited by 2-mercaptoacetate in both isolated mitochondria and submitochondrial particles. In uncoupled mitochondria and in mitochondria in which ATP- and GTP-dependent acyl-CoA biosynthesis was inhibited, the inhibitory effect of 2-mercaptoacetate on palmitoyl-L-carnitine oxidation was abolished; under the same conditions, however, inhibition of 3-hydroxybutyrate oxidation by 2-mercaptoacetate still persisted. These results led to the following conclusions: 2-mercaptoacetate itself enters the mitochondrial matrix, inhibits fatty acid oxidation through a mechanism requiring an energy-dependent activation of 2-mercaptoacetate and itself inhibits 3-hydroxybutyrate oxidation through a competitive inhibition of the membrane-bound 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase. This study also strongly suggests that the compound responsible for the inhibition of fatty acid oxidation is 2-mercaptoacetyl-CoA.

2-Mercaptoacetate administration depresses the beta-oxidation pathway through an inhibition of long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase activity.

To elucidate the mechanisms through which 2-mercaptoacetate administration inhibits fatty acid oxidation in the liver, the respiration rates induced by different substrates were studied polarographically in rat hepatic mitochondria isolated 3 h after 2-mercaptoacetate administration. Palmitoyl-L-carnitine oxidation was almost completely inhibited in either the absence or presence of malonate. Octanoate oxidation was also inhibited, and the intramitochondrial acyl-CoA content was markedly increased. The oxidation rate of pyruvate and 2-oxoglutarate on the one hand and of 3-hydroxybutyrate, succinate and glutamate on the other was either normal or only slightly decreased. In the presence of 2,4-dinitrophenol, the extent of the inhibition of palmitoyl-L-carnitine oxidation was unchanged. All these results are consistent with the hypothesis that the 2-mercaptoacetate inhibition of fatty acid oxidation is due to an inhibition of the beta-oxidation pathway itself. Finally, the mitochondrial defect responsible for this inhibition was shown to be an inhibition of palmitoyl-CoA dehydrogenase activity (EC 1.3.99.3).

Loss of the lipoprotein lipase activating ability of rat serum after administration of some fatty liver inducing drugs.

The effects of the administration of different fatty liver inducing drugs on the serum lipoprotein lipase activating ability was investigated in rats. Addition of serum from 2-mercaptoethanol-, 2-mercaptoacetate-, ethionine- or D-galactosamine- treated rats failed to activate heart and adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase from control rats. The activating effect of serum was only slightly reduced in isopropanol-treated rats, whereas it was found unaffected in ethanol-treated ones. Electrophoresis of the lipoproteins and of the very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) fraction of sera from 2-mercaptoethanol-, 2-mercaptoacetate-, isopropanol-, ethionine- and D-galactosamine-treated rats suggest that the lack of lipoprotein lipase activation ability of these sera is most probably related to the impairing effects of these drugs upon VLDL metabolism, i.e. reduction of VLDL secretion in the case of 2-mercaptoethanol, 2-mercaptoacetate and isopropanol, production of abnormal VLDL in the case of D-galactosamine and both decreased VLDL secretion and production of abnormal VLDL in the case of ethionine.

Role and mechanism of peripheral fatty acid mobilization in 2-mercaptoethanol-induced fatty liver.

2-Mercaptoethanol-induced fatty liver involves an increased free fatty acid mobilization which is primarily due to an inhibition of free fatty acid reesterification in adipose tissue. Furthermore, increased free fatty acid mobilization as well as fatty liver induction are not induced by 2-mercaptoethanol per se but result most probably from 2-mercaptoacetate through oxidation of 2-mercaptoethanol.

Is fatty liver induction a general feature of the administration of foreign sulfhydryl compounds?

The intraperitoneal administration of 2-mercaptoethanol or 2-mercaptoacetate (40 muM/100 g body weight) to the rat induces a fatty liver, a marked and early increase of free fatty acids and a decrease of triacylglycerol and phospholipids in the blood. These changes are accompanied by a decrease of the ketone body level and the beta-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate ratio in the liver. Under the same experimental conditions, however, administration of 2-mercaptopropionate fails to induce a fatty liver and does not modify the hepatic ketone body level or the blood triacylglycerol and free fatty acid levels. These results led us to conclude that fatty liver induction is not a general feature of foreign thiols, and suggest that increased peripheral fat mobilization as well as decreased hepatic lipoprotein synthesis and/or release are responsible for the 2-mercaptoethanol- and 2-mercaptoacetate-induced fatty liver.