Acrolein generation stimulates hypercontraction in isolated human blood vessels.

Increased risk of vasospasm, a spontaneous hyperconstriction, is associated with atherosclerosis, cigarette smoking, and hypertension-all conditions involving oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and inflammation. To test the role of the lipid peroxidation- and inflammation-derived aldehyde, acrolein, in human vasospasm, we developed an ex vivo model using human coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) blood vessels and a demonstrated acrolein precursor, allylamine. Allylamine induces hypercontraction in isolated rat coronary artery in a semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase activity (SSAO) dependent manner. Isolated human CABG blood vessels (internal mammary artery, radial artery, saphenous vein) were used to determine: (1) vessel responses and sensitivity to acrolein, allylamine, and H(2)O(2) exposure (1 microM-1 mM), (2) SSAO dependence of allylamine-induced effects using SSAO inhibitors (semicarbazide, 1 mM; MDL 72274-E, active isomer; MDL 72274-Z, inactive isomer; 100 microM), (3) the vasoactive effects of two other SSAO amine substrates, benzylamine and methylamine, and (4) the contribution of extracellular Ca(2+) to hypercontraction. Acrolein or allylamine but not H(2)O(2), benzylamine, or methylamine stimulated spontaneous and pharmacologically intractable hypercontraction in CABG blood vessels that was similar to clinical vasospasm. Allylamine-induced hypercontraction and blood vessel SSAO activity were abolished by pretreatment with semicarbazide or MDL 72274-E but not by MDL 72274-Z. Allylamine-induced hypercontraction also was significantly attenuated in Ca(2+)-free buffer. In isolated aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rat, allylamine-induced an SSAO-dependent contraction and enhanced norepinephrine sensitivity but not in Sprague-Dawley rat aorta. We conclude that acrolein generation in the blood vessel wall increases human susceptibility to vasospasm, an event that is enhanced in hypertension.

Vasoactive effects of methylamine in isolated human blood vessels: role of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase, formaldehyde, and hydrogen peroxide.

It is hypothesized that methylamine (MA) and semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) activity are involved in the cardiovascular complications in human diabetics. To test this, we 1) determined the acute vasoactive effects of MA (1-1,000 micromol/l) in uncontracted and norepinephrine (NE; 1 micromol/l)-precontracted human blood vessels used for coronary artery bypass grafts [left internal mammary artery (LIMA), radial artery (RA), and right saphenous vein (RSV)]; 2) tested whether MA effects in LIMA and RSV were dependent on SSAO activity using the SSAO inhibitor semicarbazide (1 mmol/l, 15 min); 3) determined the effects of MA metabolites formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide in LIMA and RSV; 4) tested whether the MA response was nitric oxide, prostaglandin, or hyperpolarization dependent; 5) measured the LIMA and RSV cGMP levels after MA exposure; and 6) quantified SSAO activity in LIMA, RA, and RSV. In NE-precontracted vessels, MA stimulated a biphasic response in RA and RSV (rapid contraction followed by prolonged relaxation) and dominant relaxation in LIMA (mean +/- SE, %relaxation: 55.4 +/- 3.9, n = 30). The MA-induced relaxation in LIMA was repeatable, nontoxic, and age independent. Semicarbazide significantly blocked MA-induced relaxation (%inhibition: 82.5 +/- 4.8, n = 7) and SSAO activity (%inhibition: 98.1 +/- 1.3, n = 26) in LIMA. Formaldehyde (%relaxation: 37.3 +/- 18.6, n = 3) and H(2)O(2) (%relaxation: 55.6 +/- 9.0, n = 9) at 1 mmol/l relaxed NE-precontracted LIMA comparable with MA. MA-induced relaxation in LIMA was nitric oxide, prostaglandin, and possibly cGMP independent and blocked by hyperpolarization. We conclude that vascular SSAO activity may convert endogenous amines, like MA, to vasoactive metabolites.

Culture medium enhances semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase activity.

Components of fetal calf serum (FCS) are known to contribute to growth and maintenance of cultured cells. Fetal calf serum supplementation of media also may contribute to the cytotoxicity of other substances to cells grown in vitro. Semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) enzyme, present in FCS, metabolizes primary amines and contributes to amine cytotoxicity in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). In cell culture experiments, the media used may greatly affect enzymic activities such as SSAO. In these studies, the SSAO activity in FCS, cultured rat aortic VSMC, and rat plasma was determined in the presence and absence of various culture media. Semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase activity in FCS (5-20 microl) was significantly enhanced (approximately 1.5- to 2-fold) in the presence of various culture media, with Dulbecco modified Eagle medium (DMEM), causing the greatest enhancement. Dulbecco modified Eagle medium enhanced the SSAO activity of cultured VSMC in two of the four passages but reduced activity in two passages. Activity in rat plasma was reduced by approximately 25% in the presence of DMEM. The concentrations of various media components, such as glucose, sodium pyruvate, pyridoxine.HCl, and L-glutamine, were not correlated with enhancement. This study identifies an important enhancement effect of culture media on the FCS enzyme, SSAO, although the media components responsible for the enhancement are yet to be identified.

Amine metabolism: a novel path to coronary artery vasospasm.

We hypothesized that allylamine (AA) induces subendocardial necrosis in mammals via coronary artery (CA) vasospasm. Additionally, AA toxicity is likely dependent on the enzyme semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO), which is highly expressed in the aorta of rats and humans. We tested whether AA or acrolein (1, 10, 100, and 1000 microM), a highly reactive product of AA metabolism by SSAO, could contract CA or thoracic aorta (TA) in vitro and if the AA effects involved SSAO. AA or acrolein produced a similar pattern of responses in both CA and TA rings at 100 and 1000 microM, including (1) increased basal tension, (2) enhanced agonist-induced contraction (hypercontractility or vasospasm), (3) remarkable, agonist-induced slow wave vasomotion (vasospasm), and (4) irreversible reduction in vessel contractility after 1 mM exposure. Endothelium-dependent acetylcholine-induced relaxation was not altered during vasospasm in either vessel. Pretreatment with the SSAO inhibitor semicarbazide (1 mM; 10 min) prevented or significantly reduced the majority of AA's effects in both CA and TA rings and inhibited 100% of the SSAO activity present in rat TA and human CA and TA. We propose a two-step model for AA induction of CA vasospasm and resultant myocardial necrosis: (1) metabolism of AA to acrolein by coronary arterial SSAO activity and (2) acrolein induction of CA vasospasm independent of endothelial injury-a novel path.

Cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells are resistant to methylamine toxicity: no correlation to semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase.

Methylamine (MA), a component of serum and a metabolite of nicotine and certain insecticides and herbicides, is metabolized by semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO). MA is toxic to cultured human umbilical vein and calf pulmonary artery endothelial cells. Endothelial cells, which do not exhibit endogenous SSAO activity, are exposed to SSAO circulating in serum. In contrast, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) do exhibit innate SSAO activity both in vivo and in vitro. This property, together with the critical localization of VSMC within the arterial wall, led us to investigate the potential toxicity of MA to VSMC. Cultured rat VSMC were treated with MA (10-5 to 1 M). In some cultures, SSAO was selectively inhibited with semicarbazide or MDL-72145 [(E)-2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-fluoroallylamine]. Cytotoxicity was measured via MTT, vital dye exclusion, and clonogenic assays. MA proved to be toxic to VSMC only at relatively high concentrations (LC(50) of 0.1 M). The inhibition of SSAO with semicarbazide or MDL-72145 did not increase MA toxicity, suggesting that the production of formaldehyde via tissue-bound, SSAO-mediated MA metabolism does not play a role in the minimal toxicity observed in isolated rat VSMC. The omission of fetal calf serum (FCS), which contains high SSAO activity, from media similarly showed little effect on cytotoxicity. We conclude that VSMC--in contrast to previous results in endothelial cells--are relatively resistant to MA toxicity, and SSAO does not play a role in VSMC injury by MA.

The role of plasma semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase in allylamine and beta-aminopropionitrile cardiovascular toxicity: mechanisms of myocardial protection and aortic medial injury in rats.

Allylamine (AA; 3-aminopropene) and beta-aminopropionitrile (betaAPN) combined treatment (AA + betaAPN) results in myocardial protection from AA-induced subendocardial necrosis and a rapid and extensive aortic medial smooth muscle injury in rats. To determine the mechanisms of AA + betaAPN-induced vascular toxicity, cardiovascular parameters were monitored during a 10-day exposure by gavage in male Sprague-Dawley rats (180-200 g). Water intake and urine output were measured in rats treated with water, AA (100 mg kg(-1) body weight), betaAPN (1 g kg(-1) body weight), and AA + betaAPN for 10 days in metabolic cages. Plasma and urine samples were analyzed for blood urea nitrogen, CO2, creatinine, hematocrit, electrolytes (Na+, K+, Cl-), and osmolality. Heart and plasma semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase metabolic capacity (SSAO)was also measured following 1, 3 and 10 days of treatment. Following 10 day exposure to control or AA + betaAPN treatment, thoracic aortic rings (approximately 3 mm) were removed, and aortic reactivity to contractile and relaxant agonists was tested in vitro. In addition, cultured rat aorta vascular smooth muscle cells or rat heart beating myocytes were exposed to various concentrations of AA and betaAPN or AA metabolites and betaAPN to test for synergism in vitro. Several of the changes in in vivo cardiovascular parameters were shared, both in direction and magnitude, between the AA + betaAPN and the AA alone or the betaAPN alone treatments. This suggests that these effects (e.g. increased water intake and urine flow, decreased hematocrit, decreased heart and plasma SSAO metabolic capacity) were dependent on an AA alone or a betaAPN alone effect and were not AA + betaAPN specific effects. Significant inhibition of plasma and heart SSAO metabolic capacity occurred in the betaAPN alone and the AA + betaAPN treatments, but not in the AA alone treatment. Aortic rings from AA + betaAPN treated rats were contracted significantly less than anatomically-matched control rat aortic rings by 100 mM potassium chloride or by 10 microM norepinephrine. BetaAPN offered substantial protection against AA cytotoxicity in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells and beating myocytes, but did not alter the cytotoxicity of AA metabolites (i.e. acrolein, H2O2, or ammonia) in vascular smooth muscle cells as determined by the MTT viability assay. Overall, these data suggest that myocardial protection from AA injury that occurs in the combined AA + betaAPN treatment is likely due to inhibition of plasma SSAO. This may result in an increase in the AA dose accumulation and metabolism in the aorta leading to the severe aortic medial injury.

Developmental vasculotoxicity associated with inhibition of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase.

The endogenous substrate(s) and physiological function(s) of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO), a group of enzymes exhibiting highest activity in vascular smooth muscle cells of the mammalian aortic wall, remain undetermined. This study examines the pathophysiological effects in the thoracic aortic wall resulting from specific in vivo SSAO inhibition. Weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were treated acutely or chronically with either semicarbazide hydrochloride or the allylamine derivatives MDL-72274 or MDL-72145 (Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute, Cincinnati, OH). Treatment with these compounds produced acute (6 and 24 h) and chronic (21 day) lowering of SSAO activity in aorta and lung with little effect on the activity of the vital matrix-forming enzyme, lysyl oxidase, in aortas of chronically treated animals. Chronic SSAO inhibition produced lesions consisting of striking disorganization of elastin architecture within the aortic media accompanied by degenerative medial changes and metaplastic changes in vascular smooth muscle cells. No significant difference in the total weight of dry, lipid-extracted aortic elastin and collagen components were observed between chronically SSAO inhibited and control animals. However, the amount of mature elastin was lowered and mature collagen was raised in the aortas of animals treated chronically with semicarbazide. Descending thoracic aortic rings isolated from chronically SSAO-inhibited animals had larger cross-sectional diameters (i.e., exhibited dilation) when compared to corresponding rings from control animals. This study demonstrates that developmental toxicity, characterized by striking vascular lesions and dilated thoracic aortas, can result from specific in vivo SSAO inhibition, suggesting a role for SSAO in connective tissue matrix development and maintenance, and specifically in the development of normal elastin.

The role of glutathione S-transferases as a defense against reactive electrophiles in the blood vessel wall.

The glutathione transferases (GSTs) are a family of ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze the conjugation of reduced glutathione (GSH) with reactive electrophiles. Rat vascular tissue contains GST isoforms that represent a major cellular defense mechanism against atherogenic alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes (Misra et al., Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 133, 27-33, 1995). In this study we examined the role of GSTs in providing protection to cultured neonatal vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from the alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl cardiovascular toxins, allylamine and its metabolite, acrolein. Confluent cultured cells were exposed to 2 to 10 microM allylamine (a cardiovascular toxin that is metabolized in vivo and in vitro by VSMCs to the reactive aldehyde, acrolein) or to acrolein (2-10 microM) for 48 h; dose-cytotoxicity curves were generated utilizing a tetrazolium-dependent cytotoxicity assay. Concommittant treatment with sulfasalazine, an established inhibitor of GST, was found to markedly increase allylamine- or acrolein-induced cytotoxicity, decreasing the LC50 by two- to threefold at 50 to 100 microM sulfasalazine. A clonogenic survival assay in VSMCs exposed to these compounds for 4 h confirmed lethal toxicity and enhanced toxicity following cotreatment with sulfasalazine. Isobologram analysis (which statistically defines the limits of additivity of two independent treatments) showed that the sulfasalazine effect on both allylamine and acrolein cytotoxicity was supraadditive, or synergistic. Sulfasalazine was not cytotoxic to VSMCs in the range of concentrations that augmented acrolein or allylamine cytoxicity; total GST activity was inhibited, however, in a dose-dependent manner in that range. GST purified by GSH-affinity chromatography from pelleted untreated cells gave specific activities and kinetic constants consistent with those previously reported for rat aorta total GSTs. The catalytic efficiency (Kcat/Vm) was found to be much greater for 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal than for 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (0.058 vs 0.4 s-1 mM-1). Western blot of purified total GSTs using antibodies against rec-mGSTA4-4 revealed a single band at 25 kDa, confirming the presence of a GST isozyme immunologically similar to rat GST8-8, which is known to utilize alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyls as preferred substrates. Our data indicate that GSTs are an important defense in the vascular media, protecting blood vessels against alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl cardiovascular toxins that are involved in initiating atherosclerotic lesions.

Allylamine and beta-aminopropionitrile induced aortic medial necrosis: mechanisms of synergism.

We have developed a model of aortic smooth muscle necrosis in adult Sprague Dawley rats by feeding them two vascular toxins (allylamine HCl, or AA, and beta-aminopropionitrile, or betaAPN) in concert for 10 days. Either toxin given alone does not cause aortic lesions. In order to shed light on the mechanism of the synergistic action of these two toxins we fed known modulators of AA or betaAPN toxicity to rats concurrently with the two toxins. As modulators we used (a) semicarbazide (98 mg/kg/day, given 4 h prior to toxins), a known inhibitor of the vascular enzyme SSAO which metabolizes AA; (b) L-cysteine (1.5% in rat chow, beginning 3 days prior to toxins), which has been shown to reduce the toxic effects of betaAPN; and (c) phenelzine sulphate (3 mg/kg/day, given 4 h prior to toxins), an inhibitor of SSAO and potentiator of betaAPN toxicity. Rats were fed various combinations of the toxins and modulators by gavage: water (n = 8); (AA, 100 mg/kg/day) AA + phenelzine (n = 8); AA + semicarbazide (n = 8); AA + L-cysteine (n = 11); (betaAPN, 1 g/kg/day) betaAPN + phenelzine (n = 8); betaAPN + semicarbazide (n = 8); betaAPN + L-cysteine (n = 8); (AA, 100 mg + betaAPN, 1 g/kg/day) AA + betaAPN + phenelzine (n = 9), AA + betaAPN + semicarbazide (n = 8); AA + betaAPN + L-cysteine (n = 12); phenelzine (3 mg/kg/day) (n = 4); semicarbazide (98 mg/kg/day) (n = 4) and L-cysteine (1.5% in rat chow) (n = 4). We found that phenelzine sulphate (a drug previously used in the treatment of hypertension) when given with AA reproduced the AA + betaAPN induced aortic lesions. Phenelzine + betaAPN caused no lesions, but when combined with AA + betaAPN, aortic lesions were intensified and included marked secondary degeneration of the vascular wall. Semicarbazide was found to completely obviate the vascular toxicity of AA + betaAPN. L-Cysteine feeding markedly decreased the incidence and severity of vascular lesions in AA + betaAPN treated rats, but did not change the incidence or severity of heart lesions caused by AA alone. These data indicate that the synergistic necrotizing toxicity of AA + betaAPN is primarily an AA effect. We postulate that some modulating influence of betaAPN (or phenelzine) on tissue distribution, metabolism, or detoxification pathways of AA increases AA's acute vascular toxicity, whereas semicarbazide offers protection by inhibiting the initial deamination of AA to a highly reactive aldehyde.

Vascular amine oxidase activities during synergistic vasculotoxicity.

Allylamine (AA) and beta-aminopropionitrile (beta APN) are well known vascular toxins with a demonstrated synergistic toxic effect, i.e. given together they cause extensive smooth muscle cell necrosis of the aortic media. In this study, we investigated the possibility that the enzymes involved in the separate toxicity of AA (semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase, or SSAO) and beta APN (lysyl oxidase, or LyO), could be the target(s) of their synergistic toxicity. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given AA alone (AA), 100 mg/kg/day, beta APN alone (beta APN), 1 g/kg/day, or both chemicals (AA + beta APN) by gavage for 1, 2, 5 or 10 days. SSAO ahd LYO were assayed in aorta, lung, and bone. SSAO activity in aortas of rats treated with AA + beta APN showed a maximal decrease (40%) at 10 days; more moderate depression of SSAO was seen in lung and bone. LyO changes were most marked in aorta, where activities were consistently and markedly depressed in all rats receiving beta APN (either alone or in combined treatment). Similarly, the lung and bone LyO activity was depressed at all time points in rats receiving beta APN, but to an apparently lesser degree than in aorta. The most striking changes in in vivo enzyme activities were seen in the aorta, the major target organ in this model. No synergistic effect of the two toxins was seen in the depression of LyO enzyme activity, since there was no difference in the degree of enzyme inhibition present between rats given beta APN alone or AA + beta APN, indicating that inhibition of this enzyme is mainly due to the effect of beta APN. We suggest that AA is the primary toxin in this synergistic vasculotoxic effect. It is likely that some effect of beta APN on AA metabolism or detoxification mechanisms results in synergism.

Methylamine metabolism to formaldehyde by vascular semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase.

The capacity of the vascular enzyme, semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO), to metabolize methylamine to the potentially toxic product, formaldehyde, was tested using rat aortic homogenates and purified porcine aortic SSAO. Formaldehyde production in incubations of enzyme source with methylamine (1 mM) was detected by high performance liquid chromatography and product was confirmed by desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometry (DCI-MS). Inhibitor studies using the specific SSAO inhibitor semicarbazide and the monoamine oxidase inhibitor pargyline indicate that SSAO is responsible for metabolism of methylamine to formaldehyde. These results suggest the possibility that elevated methylamine found in several pathologic states (such as uremia and diabetes mellitus), or generated from exogenous sources, could result in overproduction of formaldehyde in tissues with high SSAO activity, especially blood vessels.