Because antioxidant enzymes may have an important role in the oxidant resistance of inflammatory cells, we investigated the mRNA levels and specific activities of manganese and copper-zinc superoxide dismutases (Mn SOD and Cu,Zn SOD), catalase (Cat), and glutathione peroxidase, as well as the concentrations of glutathione (GSH) in human neutrophils, monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages, and alveolar macrophages. Levels of GSH and glutathione peroxidase activity in monocytes were three times higher than in neutrophils, whereas the mRNA of Cat was 50-fold and its specific activity 4-fold higher in neutrophils. Although Mn SOD mRNA levels were higher in neutrophils, enzyme activities, as well as those of Cu,Zn SOD, were similar in all phagocytic cells. Neutrophils lost their viability, assessed by adenine nucleotide depletion, within 24 h ex vivo and more rapidly if GSH was depleted. However, neutrophils were the most resistant cell type to exogenous H(2)O(2). In conclusion, high Cat activity of neutrophils appears to explain their high resistance against exogenous H(2)O(2), whereas low GSH content and GSH-related enzymes seem to account for the poor survival of human neutrophils.
Free radicals have been suggested to play an important role in the pathogenesis of interstitial lung diseases, the most important of which are chronic interstitial pneumonias such as usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) and granulomatous lung diseases such as sarcoidosis. Because manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and catalase are two important intracellular antioxidant enzymes that probably play a central role in lung defense, the localization and intensity of these two enzymes were assessed by immunohistochemistry in biopsies of UIP (n = 9), DIP (n = 11), pulmonary sarcoidosis (n = 14), and extrinsic allergic alveolitis (n = 6). The mRNA of these enzymes in selected samples of bronchoalveolar lavage was assessed by Northern blotting. Catalase, but not MnSOD, was constitutively expressed, especially in type II pneumocytes of the healthy lung of nonsmoking individuals. In contrast, manganese SOD immunoreactivity was markedly upregulated in all of the interstitial lung diseases investigated, whereas no increased expression of catalase could be detected in any case. Both enzymes were expressed, especially in type II pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages of DIP and UIP, in the well-preserved areas of the lung, in the acute fibromyxoid lesions of UIP, and in the granulomas of sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. The simultaneous expression of MnSOD and catalase in the alveolar region suggests their protective role against the progression of lung disease.
The role of antioxidant defense mechanisms in the pathogenesis of granulomatous human lung diseases remains open to investigation. In this study we investigated the immunoreactivity of two important superoxide radical scavenging intracellular antioxidant enzymes, manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and copperzinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), in pulmonary sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. In histologically normal lung MnSOD was variable but mostly positive in the cells of bronchial epithelium, alveolar epithelium especially in type II pneumocytes, and alveolar macrophages. Copperzinc SOD showed positive immunoreactivity most markedly in the bronchial epithelium. The biopsies of 22 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis and 10 with extrinsic allergic alveolitis indicated that MnSOD was highly stained in the granulomas of both diseases, with 60 to 100% of the granulomas showing intensive immunoreactivity. Western blots conducted on the cell samples of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid revealed significantly higher amounts of MnSOD in sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis than in the controls. Immunohistochemistry on the cells obtained from BAL fluid showed positive immunoreactivity of MnSOD in the macrophages but not in the lymphocytes. In contrast, copperzinc SOD was not induced in either of these diseases. We conclude that MnSOD is highly expressed in the granulomas of pulmonary sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis, and variable but mostly positive in alveolar macrophages, possibly owing to cytokine mediated induction during the granuloma formation.
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