The solely known function of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is to catalyze the dismutation of superoxide anion into hydrogen peroxide. Our objective was to determine if SOD1 catalyzed murine liver protein nitration induced by acetaminophen (APAP) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Liver and plasma samples were collected from young adult SOD1 knockout mice (SOD1-/-) and wild-type (WT) mice at 5 or 6 h after an ip injection of saline, APAP, or LPS. Hepatic nitrotyrosine formation was induced by APAP and LPS only in the WT mice. The diminished hepatic protein nitration in the SOD1-/-mice was not directly related to plasma nitrite and nitrate concentrations. Similar genotype differences were seen in liver homogenates treated with a bolus of peroxynitrite. Adding only the holo, but not the apo-SOD1 enzyme into the liver homogenates enhanced the reaction in an activity-dependent fashion and nearly eliminated the genotype difference at the high doses. Mass Spectrometry showed 4 more nitrotyrosine residues in bovine serum albumin and 10 more nitrated protein candidates in the SOD1-/-liver homogenates by peroxynitrite with added SOD1. In conclusion, the diminished hepatic protein nitration mediated by APAP or LPS in the SOD1-/-mice was due to the lack of SOD1 activity per se. Keywords SOD1; Protein nitration; Acetaminophen; Peroxynitrite; Lipopolysaccharide; Mouse Although copper,zinc-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) has been widely considered a major intracellular antioxidant enzyme in mammals, its solely known function is to catalyze the conversion of superoxide anion into less active hydrogen peroxide. Indeed, SOD1 is protective against oxidative stress associated with acute paraquat toxicity, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, and N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration [1][2][3]. Mice deficient in SOD1 develop Address correspondence to: Xin Gen Lei, Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, Tel. 607-254-4703; Fax. 607-255-9829; E-Mail: XL20@cornell.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. [7,8]. These paradoxical findings strongly suggest that SOD1 may exert functions more than just superoxide dismutation. In fact, SOD1 was shown to promote peroxynitrite-mediated nitrotyrosine formation in vitro [9,10].
NIH Public AccessPeroxynitrite is formed by a rapid diffusion-limited, radical-radical coupling reaction between nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide anion [11,12] [24,25,33,34] provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to study the in vivo role of SOD1 in nitrotyrosine formation. Furtherm...