Pro-oxidant activity of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase.

Abstract

Whereas Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD) is an essential antioxidant enzyme for superoxide dismutation in vivo(1 ), many reports have shown that an elevated level of Cu,Zn-SOD induces cell killing (2, 3), increases lipid peroxidation (4, 5), and interferes with the transport of neurotransmitters (4, 6). All of these observations are archetypical results inducible by oxygen radicals. Cu,Zn-SOD (7) and FALS mutants (8) are known to develop neurodegeneration. These findings suggest that under certain conditions Cu,Zn-SOD may behave directly or indirectly as a pro-oxidant. In addition to the usual superoxide dismutation activity, Cu,Zn-SOD is known to exhibit anion binding capacity (9, 10), inactivation by its own reaction product H202 (11-13), and the purported peroxidase activity (14). Here we summarize our findings that Cu,Zn-SOD has free radical ('OH and scavenger-derived radicals)-generating activity (15, 16). TheactiveCu,Zn-SOD can catalyze the generation of free 9 radicals from H202. In the presence of H202 and radical scavengers, especially with anionic character, both free 9 radicals and scavenger-derived radicals are produced (15, 16). We also found that the free radical-generating function of several FALS-associated Cu,Zn-SOD mutants is enhanced relative to that of the wild-type enzyme, while the dismutation activities remain unchanged (17, 18). To monitor the production of free radicals, two spin traps, 5,5-dimethyl-l-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) and Ntert-butyl-c~-phenylnitrone (PBN), were used in our studies (15) to convert transient free radicals to stable free radicals adducts according to the following reactions: