Heme oxygenase synthesis is induced in cultured lens epithelium by hyperbaric oxygen or puromycin.

We showed previously that treatment of cultured rabbit lens epithelial cells (LECs) with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) produced DNA strand-breaks, caused reversible inhibition of protein synthesis and induced the synthesis of a 32 kD protein. In the present work, we employed immunostaining procedures to identify the 32 kD protein as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Increased synthesis of the enzyme was observed as early as 12 hr after HBO-treatment, reached a maximum at 18 hr and was not detectable at 36 hr. Exposure of the cells to hemin also increased the synthesis of HO-1. An HBO-induced inhibition of protein synthesis and the subsequent induction of HO-1 was also observed in the capsule-epithelium of cultured rabbit lenses. For both LECs and the cultured lens, only HO-1 and not heme oxygenase-2 was HBO-inducible. Use of the antioxidant dimethylthiourea with HBO-treated lenses or LECs did not alter the observed effects on protein synthesis or the induction of HO-1. In contrast to results obtained with 50 atm O2, a pressure of 25 atm O2 inhibited protein synthesis only slightly and failed to induce synthesis of the 32 kD protein (although, as shown previously, identical exposure of LECs to 25 atm O2 significantly damaged DNA). Inhibition of protein synthesis in LECs and cultured lenses with the use of puromycin also induced synthesis of HO-1. Both hemin (10 micron), a source of iron, and 50 atm O2 produced a three-fold increase in the concentration of ferritin, a natural iron chelator, in LECs two days after exposure; no effects on ferritin levels were observed after 1 or 3 days. The finding that the increase in ferritin concentration occurred in the cells significantly after hemin- or HBO-induced synthesis of heme oxygenase indicates that chelatable iron rather than the heme molecule itself may have been the primary agent responsible for inducing ferritin synthesis. The data suggest that HBO-induced synthesis of HO-1 in the lens epithelium may be the result of an inhibition of protein synthesis, possibly leading to an accumulation of heme, rather than a direct protective response against oxidative stress.