No abstract

Nitric oxide ('NO) release, oxygen uptake and hydrogen peroxide (H202) production elicited by increasing phorbol12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) concentrations were measured in human neutrophils. Half-maximal activities were sequentially elicited at about 0.0001-0.001 pg PMA/ml CNO) and O.OOl~.Ol pg PMA/ml (H,OJ. At saturated PMA concentrations, 'NO production, oxygen uptake and H,O, release were 0.56 ? 0.04, 3.32 f 0.52 and 1.19 f 0.17 nmol min-' 1 O6 cells-'. 'NO production accounts for about 30% of the total oxygen uptake. Luminol-dependent chemiluminescence, reported to detect NO reactions in other inflammatory cells, was also half-maximally activated at about 0.00-0.01 pg PMA/ml. Preincubation with A'"-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) decreased 0, uptake and 'NO release but increased H,Oz production, while superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased 'NO detection by 30%. Chemiluminescence was also reduced by preincubation with L-NMMA and/or SOD. The results indicate that 'NO release is part of the integrated response of stimulated human neutrophils and that, in these cells, kinetics of-NO and O;-release favour the formation of other oxidants like peroxynitrite.

We have isolated vesicular structures from mouse epididymal fluid, referred to as epididymosomes. Epididymosomes have a roughly spherical aspect and a bilayer membrane, and they are heterogeneous in size and content. They originate from the epididymal epithelium, notably from the caput region, and are emitted in the epididymal lumen by way of apocrine secretion. We characterized their membranous lipid profiles in caput and cauda epididymidal fluid samples and found that epididymosomes were particularly rich in sphingomyelin (SM) and arachidonic acid. The proportion of SM increased markedly during epididymal transit and represented half the total phospholipids in cauda epididymidal epididymosomes. The cholesterol:phospholipid ratio increased from 0.26 in the caput to 0.48 in the cauda epididymidis. Measures of epididymosomal membrane anisotropy revealed that epididymosomes became more rigid during epididymal transit, in agreement with their lipid composition. In addition, we have characterized the membrane lipid pattern of murine epididymal spermatozoa during their maturation. Here, we have shown that mouse epididymal spermatozoa were distinguished by high percentages of SM and polyunsaturated membranous fatty acids (PUFAs), principally represented by arachidonic, docosapentanoic, and docosahexanoic acids. Both SM and PUFA increased throughout the epididymal tract. In particular, we observed a threefold rise in the ratio of docosapentanoic acid. Epididymal spermatozoa had a constant cholesterol:phospholipid ratio (average, 0.30) during epididymal transit. These data suggest that in contrast with epididymosomes, spermatozoal membranes seem to become more fluid during epididymal maturation.

Eukaryotic mitochondria resulted from symbiotic incorporation of α-proteobacteria into ancient archaea species. During evolution, mitochondria lost most of the prokaryotic bacterial genes and only conserved a small fraction including those encoding 13 proteins of the respiratory chain. In this process, many functions were transferred to the host cells, but mitochondria gained a central role in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis, and in the modulation of metabolism; accordingly, defective organelles contribute to cell transformation and cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. Most cell and transcriptional effects of mitochondria depend on the modulation of respiratory rate and on the production of hydrogen peroxide released into the cytosol. The mitochondrial oxidative rate has to remain depressed for cell proliferation; even in the presence of O₂, energy is preferentially obtained from increased glycolysis (Warburg effect). In response to stress signals, traffic of pro- and antiapoptotic mitochondrial proteins in the intermembrane space (B-cell lymphoma-extra large, Bcl-2-associated death promoter, Bcl-2 associated X-protein and cytochrome c) is modulated by the redox condition determined by mitochondrial O₂ utilization and mitochondrial nitric oxide metabolism. In this article, we highlight the traffic of the different canonical signaling pathways to mitochondria and the contributions of organelles to redox regulation of kinases. Finally, we analyze the dynamics of the mitochondrial population in cell cycle and apoptosis.