NAD depletion after in vitro exposure of murine lung slices to bleomycin

Abstract

Bleomycin (BLM), a DNA-cleaving, antitumor antibiotic, causes pulmonary fibrosis. It also causes cell injury and activates the nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PAP; EC 2.4.2.30) in lung slices exposed to the drug in vitro. 3-Aminobenzamide (3-AB), aPAP inhibitor, prevents enzyme activation and cell injury. We have examined the potential role of ATP and NAD depletion in injury of BLM-sensitive C57B1/6N and -resistant BALB/cN murine lung slices treated with BLM or deprived of glucose, the major metabolic substrate of lung. Lung slices either were treated for 45 min with injurious concentrations of BLM (10–500 μg/mL) or were incubated without glucose, in the presence or absence of 2.5 mM 3-AB. Only the highest concentration of BLM, 500 μg/mL, caused any ATP depletion, and this 35% decrease was transient, occurring at 220 min in C57B1/6N slices. In contrast, glucose deprivation caused 50–70% ATP depletion in slices from both strains. BLM alone at 100 and 500 μg/mL caused a sustained 30–70% NAD depletion from 75 min through 400 min in C57B1/6N mouse lung slices. In the resistant BALB/cN lung slices, NAD depletion by BLM was only seen at 400 min. 3-AB almost completely antagonized NAD depletion in slices from both strains. In contrast to BLM, glucose deprivation did not decrease NAD levels unless 3-AB was present in C57B1/6N slices. Thus, ATP depletion may play a role in the injurious effects of glucose deprivation, but does not appear to be a major factor in pneumocyte injury caused by BLM. NAD depletion or other effects of PAP activation appear to account for the strain-selective, injurious effect of BLM on lung tissue.