Mechanism of calcium transport inhibition of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) by oxygen free radicals was examined. Effects of oxygen free radicals generated by xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XO) system on isolated porcine ventricle SR were studied w...
Mechanism of calcium transport inhibition of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) by oxygen free radicals was examined. Effects of oxygen free radicals generated by xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XO) system on isolated porcine ventricle SR were studied with respect to its calcium binding, lipid peroxidation, SH-group content and alteration of membrane protein components. The results are as follows. 1) Calcium binding of isolated SR was markedly inhibited by X/XO. 2) During the incubation of sarcoplasmic reticulum with xanthine/xanthine oxidase, there were marked inclose in lipid peroxidation and reduction of SH-group content. 3) An antioxidant, p-phenylenediamine effectively prevented the lipid peroxidation but partially prevented the calcium binding inhibition of X/XO treated SR. 4) The reduction of SH-group content of SR treated with X/XO was partially prevented by p-phenylendiamine. 5) When modifying SH-group of SR by treatment with DTNB, the inhibition of calcium binding activity was partially prevented. 6) On gel-permeation chromatography of X/XO-treated sarcoplasmic reticulum, there was an increase of small molecular weight products, probably protein degradation products. 7) Semicarbazide, which prevents the cross-linking reaction of protein components, did not affect the calcium binding inhibition of X/XO-treated SR. From these results, it is suggested that the inhibition of calcium binding of SR by oxygen free radicals results from the consequence of multiple changes of SR components, which are lipid peroxidation, SH-group oxidation and degradation of protein components.