The principle mitochondrial target where the respiratory inhibitors CO, CN -and NO act in the execution of their acute toxic effects is complex IV of the electron-transport chain, cytochrome c oxidase. However, there is a paucity of studies in the literature regarding the concerted effects of such poisons. Accordingly, the combined inhibitory effects of CO + CN -, NO + CN -and NO + CO on the activity of cytochrome c oxidase preparations are reported. Only in the case of CO + CN -do the effects of the two inhibitors seem to be additive as expected. NO appears to be antagonistic towards the effects of the other two inhibitors; that is, the effects of both CO and CN -on enzyme activity are ameliorated by NO when present. To further clarify these observations, the ligandsubstitutions of heme-bound CN -by NO in cytochrome c oxidase and hemoglobin have also been briefly investigated. These results suggest that displacement of CN -from the ferric hemoproteins by NO is rate-limited by heme reduction -and in the case of the enzyme, the presence of non-ligandbinding electron-transfer centers facilitates the reaction. The findings are discussed in relation to the idea that NO does not behave as a classic reversible (by dissociation) inhibitor.

The effects of peroxynitrite and nitric oxide on the iron-sulfur clusters in complex II (succinate dehydrogenase) isolated from bovine heart have been studied primarily by EPR spectroscopy and no measurable damage to the constitutive 2Fe-2S, 3Fe-4S, or 4Fe-4S clusters was observed. The enzyme can be repeatedly oxidized with a slight excess of peroxynitrite and then quantitatively rereduced with succinate. When added in large excess, peroxynitrite reacted with at least one tyrosine in each subunit of complex II to form 3-nitrotyrosines, but activity was barely compromised. Examination of rat-heart pericardium subjected to conditions leading to peroxynitrite production showed a small inhibition of complex II (16%) and a greater inhibition of aconitase (77%). In addition, experiments performed with excesses of sodium citrate and sodium succinate on rat-heart pericardium indicated that the "g ~2.01" EPR signal observed immediately following the beginning of conditions modeling oxidative/nitrosative stress, could be a consequence of both reversible oxidation of the constitutive 3Fe-4S cluster in complex II and degradation of the 4Fe-4S cluster in aconitase. However, the net signal envelope, which becomes apparent in less than one minute following the start of oxidative/nitrosative conditions, is dominated by the component arising from complex II. Taking into account the findings of a previous study concerning complexes I and III [L.L. Pearce, A.J. Kanai, M.W. Epperly, J. Peterson (2005) Nitric Oxide 13, it is now apparent that, with the exception of the cofactor in aconitase, mammalian (mitochondrial) iron-sulfur clusters are surprisingly resistant to degradation stemming from oxidative/nitrosative stress.

l-Arginine is shown to protect hematopoietic progenitor (32D cl 3) cells from death due to exposure to γ radiation (137Cs). Some of the other intermediates in the urea cycle, namely ornithine and citrulline, plus urea itself, were not found to have any significant impact on cell survival after irradiation. Intriguingly, supplementation of irradiated cells with l-arginine results in decreased production of peroxynitrite, suggesting that suppression of superoxide generation by nitric oxide synthase in one or more microenvironments is an important factor in the observed radioprotection. The absence of any radioprotective effect of l-arginine in cells at 3% oxygen also confirms the involvement of one or more oxygen-derived species. Knockdown experiments with nitric oxide synthase (NOS) siRNAs in cells and NOS knockout animals confirm that the observed radioprotection is associated with nNOS (NOS-1). l-Arginine also ameliorates the transient inhibition of the electron-transport chain complex I that occurs within 30 min of completing the dose (10 Gy) and that appears to be a functional marker for postirradiation mitochondrial oxidant production.