Biomedical subjects

Chris E Cooper

Publications and source records attributed to Chris E Cooper.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2003

Nitric oxide and peroxynitrite cause irreversible increases in the K(m) for oxygen of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase: in vitro and in vivo studies.

Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase is competitively and reversibly inhibited by inhibitors that bind to ferrous heme, such as carbon monoxide and nitric oxide. In the case of nitric oxide, nanomolar levels inhibit cytochrome oxidase by competing with oxygen at the enzyme's heme-copper active site. This raises the K(m) for cellular respiration into the physiological range. This effect is readily reversible and may be a physiological control mechanism. Here we show that a number of in vitro and in vivo conditions result in an irreversible increase in the oxygen K(m). These include: treatment of the purified enzyme with peroxynitrite or high (microM) levels of nitric oxide; treatment of the endothelial-derived cell line, b.End5, with NO; activation of astrocytes by cytokines; reperfusion injury in the gerbil brain. Studies of cell respiration that fail to vary the oxygen concentration systematically are therefore likely to significantly underestimate the degree of irreversible damage to cytochrome oxidase.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Global iron-dependent gene regulation in Escherichia coli. A new mechanism for iron homeostasis.

Organisms generally respond to iron deficiency by increasing their capacity to take up iron and by consuming intracellular iron stores. Escherichia coli, in which iron metabolism is particularly well understood, contains at least 7 iron-acquisition systems encoded by 35 iron-repressed genes. This Fe-dependent repression is mediated by a transcriptional repressor, Fur (ferric uptake regulation), which also controls genes involved in other processes such as iron storage, the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle, pathogenicity, and redox-stress resistance. Our macroarray-based global analysis of iron- and Fur-dependent gene expression in E. coli has revealed several novel Fur-repressed genes likely to specify at least three additional iron-transport pathways. Interestingly, a large group of energy metabolism genes was found to be iron and Fur induced. Many of these genes encode iron-rich respiratory complexes. This iron- and Fur-dependent regulation appears to represent a novel iron-homeostatic mechanism whereby the synthesis of many iron-containing proteins is repressed under iron-restricted conditions. This mechanism thus accounts for the low iron contents of fur mutants and explains how E. coli can modulate its iron requirements. Analysis of 55Fe-labeled E. coli proteins revealed a marked decrease in iron-protein composition for the fur mutant, and visible and EPR spectroscopy showed major reductions in cytochrome b and d levels, and in iron-sulfur cluster contents for the chelator-treated wild-type and/or fur mutant, correlating well with the array and quantitative RT-PCR data. In combination, the results provide compelling evidence for the regulation of intracellular iron consumption by the Fe2+-Fur complex.

Biological Transport↗

PubMed2003

Blood volume changes are controlled centrally not locally--a near-infrared spectroscopy study of one legged aerobic exercise.

It is well known that blood flow increases in an exercising limb to match increases in oxygen consumption. However, it is less clear what effects occur in the opposite limb. We performed a one legged incremental cycling protocol and used near-infrared spectroscopy to measure changes in muscle blood volume and oxygenation in the exercising and non-exercising leg. As expected during exercise the exercising leg was deoxygenated relative to the non-exercising leg. However, there were similar increases in blood volume to both legs during the exercise, and during the post-exercise recovery period similar volume and oxygenation increases were seen in both legs. We conclude that blood volume increases may be signalled locally, but the effect is expressed globally. Previous studies have demonstrated a training effect in the non-exercising leg following one legged aerobic exercise. The large haemodynamic changes in the non-exercising leg observed here may be partially responsible for the cross-training effect.

Blood Volume↗

PubMed2003

Inhibition of mitochondrial respiration during early stage sepsis.

It is known that nitric oxide (NO) is produced in response to a septic insult such as bacterial invasion and that overproduction of NO can have serious debilitating consequences. The mechanism by which NO causes damage at the cellular level is less clear. We have therefore studied the response to a septic insult in an anaesthetised spontaneously breathing Sprague-Dawley rat model. Six rats were given either an intravenous infusion of bacterial cell wall lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 5 mg/kg) or saline control over 1 hour. For electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies, blood samples were collected every hour for a further two hours and liver tissue samples were collected postmortem. Measurement was also made of PaO2, blood pressure, base deficit, aortic and renal blood flow and hepatic microvascular pO2 (using porphyrin phosphoresence). Tissue samples were also collected for mitochondrial complex activity analysis. After the administration of LPS blood pressure, blood flow and microvascular PO2 were diminished and the base deficit increased. In addition a clear difference was observed by EPR between control and insulted blood and tissue samples. A large heam-nitrosyl signal is observed as well as an increase in the signal at g = 1.94, corresponding to the iron-sulphur centres of complex I becoming more reduced. However, no significant difference was observed for any of the mitochondrial complex activities. The effect of the NO produced was to depress the circulatory variables and increase base deficit, combined with a reduced oxygen consumption this implies an impairment of normal aerobic respiration. This was supported by increased iron-sulphur signals observed by EPR indicating a blockage in the mitochondrial redox chain with the subsequent accumulation of electrons. As no effect was observed in the mitochondrial complex activities this indicates that this inhibition is reversible in early stage sepsis. We conclude that nitric oxide produced in response to a septic insult can inhibit mitochondria causing an impairment of oxygen utilisation by aerobic respiration.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Exogenous ferrous iron is required for the nitric oxide-catalysed destruction of the iron-sulphur centre in adrenodoxin.

No effects of gaseous NO added at a pressure of 19.95 kPa on the stability of the binuclear iron-sulphur centre (ISC) of reduced iron-sulphur protein adrenodoxin (0.2 mM) have been observed using the EPR method. However, the incubation of the protein with NO in the presence of ferrous iron (1.8 mM) led to complete ISC degradation, accompanied by the formation of protein-bound dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs; 0.3+/-0.1 mM). Similar results were obtained when low-molecular-mass DNIC with phosphate or cysteine (1.8 mM) were added to solutions of pre-reduced adrenodoxin. The degradation of the ISC was suggested to be due to the attack of the Fe(+)(NO(+))(2) group from low-molecular-mass DNICs added or formed during the interaction between NO and ferrous ions on the thiol groups in active centres of adrenodoxin. This attack leads to a release of endogenous iron from the centres, which is capable of forming both low-molecular-mass and protein-bound DNIC, thereby ensuring further ISC degradation.

Adrenodoxin↗

PubMed2002

Association between mitochondrial dysfunction and severity and outcome of septic shock.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis-induced multiple organ failure is the major cause of mortality and morbidity in critically ill patients. However, the precise mechanisms by which this dysfunction is caused remain to be elucidated. We and others have shown raised tissue oxygen tensions in septic animals and human beings, suggesting reduced ability of the organs to use oxygen. Because ATP production by mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation accounts for more than 90% of total oxygen consumption, we postulated that mitochondrial dysfunction results in organ failure, possibly due to nitric oxide, which is known to inhibit mitochondrial respiration in vitro and is produced in excess in sepsis. METHODS: We did skeletal muscle biopsies on 28 critically ill septic patients within 24 h of admission to intensive care, and on nine control patients undergoing elective hip surgery. The biopsy samples were analysed for respiratory-chain activity (complexes I-IV), ATP concentration, reduced glutathione (an intracellular antioxidant) concentration, and nitrite/nitrate concentrations (a marker of nitric oxide production). FINDINGS: Skeletal muscle ATP concentrations were significantly lower in the 12 patients with sepsis who subsequently died than in the 16 septic patients who survived (p=0.0003) and in controls (p=0.05). Complex I activity had a significant inverse correlation with norepinephrine requirements (a proxy for shock severity, p=0.0003) and nitrite/nitrate concentrations (p=0.0004), and a significant positive correlation with concentrations of reduced glutathione (p=0.006) and ATP (p=0.03). INTERPRETATION: In septic patients, we found an association between nitric oxide overproduction, antioxidant depletion, mitochondrial dysfunction, and decreased ATP concentrations that relate to organ failure and eventual outcome. These data implicate bioenergetic failure as an important pathophysiological mechanism underlying multiorgan dysfunction.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed2002

Fast reduction of a copper center in laccase by nitric oxide and formation of a peroxide intermediate.

The rapid reduction of one of the copper atoms (type 2) of tree laccase by nitric oxide (NO) has been detected. Addition of NO to native laccase in the presence of oxygen leads to EPR changes consistent with fast reduction and slow reoxidation of this metal center. These events are paralleled by optical changes that are reminiscent of formation and decay of the peroxide intermediate in a fraction of the enzyme population. Formation of this species is only possible if the trinuclear copper cluster (type 2 plus type 3) is fully reduced. This condition can only be met if, as suggested previously, a fraction of the enzyme contains both type 3 coppers already reduced before addition of NO. Our data are consistent with this assumption. We have suggested recently that fast reduction of copper is the mechanism by which NO interacts with the oxidized dinuclear center in cytochrome c oxidase. The present experiments using laccase strongly support this view and suggest this reaction as a general mechanism by which copper proteins interact with NO. In addition, this provides an unexploited way to produce a stable peroxide intermediate in copper oxidases in which the full complement of copper atoms is present. This enables the O-O scission step in the catalytic cycle to be studied by electron addition to the peroxide derivative through the native electron entry site, type 1 copper.

Copper↗

PubMed2002

Comparative study of tyrosine radicals in hemoglobin and myoglobins treated with hydrogen peroxide.

The reactions of hydrogen peroxide with human methemoglobin, sperm whale metmyoglobin, and horse heart metmyoglobin were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy at 10 K and room temperature. The singlet EPR signal, one of the three signals seen in these systems at 10 K, is characterized by a poorly resolved, but still detectable, hyperfine structure that can be used to assign it to a tyrosyl radical. The singlet is detectable as a quintet at room temperature in methemoglobin with identical spectral features to those of the well characterized tyrosyl radical in photosystem II. Hyperfine splitting constants found for Tyr radicals were used to find the rotation angle of the phenoxyl group. Analysis of these angles in the crystal structures suggests that the radical resides on Tyr151 in sperm whale myoglobin, Tyr133 in soybean leghemoglobin, and either alphaTyr42, betaTyr35, or betaTyr130 in hemoglobin. In the sperm whale metmyoglobin Tyr103Phe mutant, there is no detectable tyrosyl radical present. Yet the rotation angle of Tyr103 (134 degrees) is too large to account for the observed EPR spectrum in the wild type. Tyr103 is the closest to the heme. We suggest that Tyr103 is the initial site of the radical, which then rapidly migrates to Tyr151.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Nitric oxide and cytochrome oxidase: substrate, inhibitor or effector?

Endogenously produced nitric oxide (NO) controls oxygen consumption by inhibiting cytochrome c oxidase, the terminal electron acceptor of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. The oxygen-binding site of the enzyme is an iron/copper (haem a3/CuB) binuclear centre. At high substrate (ferrocytochrome c) concentrations, NO binds reversibly to the reduced iron in competition with oxygen. At low substrate concentrations, NO binds to the oxidized copper. Inhibition at the haem iron site is relieved by dissociation of the NO from the reduced iron. Inhibition at the copper site is relieved by oxidation of the bound NO and subsequent dissociation of nitrite from the enzyme. Therefore, NO can be a substrate, inhibitor or effector of cytochrome oxidase, depending on cellular conditions.

Electron Transport Complex IV↗

PubMed2002

Nanotransducers in cellular redox signaling: modification of thiols by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.

The control of signal transduction involves post-translational modification of proteins at key amino acids. Cysteine residues are important in the control of 'redox' cell-signaling pathways, as thiol chemistry offers the possibility of modification by structurally diverse species, including those derived from oxidized lipids, peroxides or nitric oxide. An important and provocative study of the modification of thiols in the transcription factor OxyR recently extended this hypothesis. The findings offer the enticing possibility that the cell can distinguish between different degrees of oxidant and nitrosative exposure by modification at a single site on a signaling molecule.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Competitive, reversible, physiological? Inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase by nitric oxide.

In the mid 1990s a number of research groups recognized that mitochondrial oxygen consumption could be reversibly inhibited by nitric oxide at the level of the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase. The inhibition was apparently competitive with respect to the oxygen concentration. This review critically assesses the present state of knowledge as regards the hypothesis that nitric oxide is a competitive, reversible, physiological inhibitor of cytochrome oxidase.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Noninvasive method for measuring local hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissue using wide gap second derivative near-infrared spectroscopy.

A simple continuous wave near-infrared algorithm for estimating local hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissue (%StO2) is described using single depth attenuation measurements at 680, 720, 760, and 800 nm. Second derivative spectroscopy was used to reduce light scattering effects, chromophores with constant absorption, baseline/instrumentation drift, and movement artifacts. Unlike previous second derivative methods which focused primarily on measuring deoxyhemoglobin concentration; a wide 40 nm wavelength gap used for calculating second derivative attenuation significantly improved sensitivity to oxyhemoglobin absorption. Scaled second derivative attenuation at 720 nm was correlated to in vitro hemoglobin oxygen saturation to generate a %StO2 calibration curve. The calibration curve was insensitive to total hemoglobin, optical path length, and optical scattering. Measurement error due to normal levels of carboxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, and water absorption were less than 10 %StO2 units. Severe methemoglobinemia or edema combined with low blood volume could cause StO2 errors to exceed 10 StO2 units. Both a broadband and commercial four-wavelength spectrometer (InSpectra) measured %StO2. The InSpectra tissue spectrometer readily detected limb ischemia on 26 human volunteers for hand, forearm, and leg muscles. A strong linear correlation, r2>0.93, between StO2 and microvascular %SO2 was observed for isolated animal hind limb, kidney, and heart.

Adult↗