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Nitric oxide degradation of heparin and heparan sulphate.

ABSTRACT: NO is a bioactive free radical produced by NO synthase in various tissues including vascular endothelium. One of the degradation products of NO is HNO2, an agent known to degrade heparin and heparan sulphate. This report documents degradation of heparin by cultured endothelial-cell-derived as well as exogenous NO. An exogenous narrow molecular-mass preparation of heparin was recovered from the medium of cultured endothelial cells using strong-anion exchange. In addition, another narrow molecular-mass preparation of heparin was gassed with exogenous NO under argon. Degradation was evaluated by gel-filtration chromatography. Since HNO2 degrades heparin under acidic conditions, the reaction with NO gas was studied under various pH conditions. The results show that the degradation of exogenous heparin by endothelial cells is inhibited by NO synthase inhibitors. Exogenous NO gas at concentrations as low as 400 p.p.m. degrades heparin and heparan sulphate. Exogenous NO degrades heparin at neutral as well as acidic pH. Endothelial-cell-derived NO, as well as exogenous NO gas, did not degrade hyaluronan, an unrelated glycosaminoglycan that resists HNO2 degradation. Peroxynitrite, a metabolic product of the reaction of NO with superoxide, is an agent that degrades hyaluronan; however, peroxynitrite did not degrade heparin. Thus endothelial-cell-derived NO is capable of degrading heparin and heparan sulphate via HNO2 rather than peroxynitrite. These observations may be relevant to various pathophysiological processes in which extracellular matrix is degraded, such as bone development, apoptosis, tissue damage from inflammatory responses and possible release of growth factors and cytokines.

SUBMITTER: Vilar RE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1218454 | biostudies-other | 1997 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:In the biosynthesis of heparin and heparan sulphate, D-glucuronic acid residues are converted into L-iduronic acid (IdoA) units by C-5 epimerization, at the polymer level. The reaction catalysed by the epimerase occurs by reversible abstraction and readdition of a proton at C-5 of target hexuronic acid residues, through a carbanion intermediate, with or without an inversion of configuration at C-5 [Prihar, Campbell, Feingold, Jacobsson, Jensen, Lindahl and Rodén (1980) Biochemistry 19, 495-500]. Incubation of chemically N-sulphated capsular polysaccharide from Escherichia coli K5 ([4GlcAbeta1-4GlcNSO(3)alpha1-](n)), or of O-desulphated heparin (predominantly [4IdoAalpha1-4GlcNSO(3)alpha1-](n)) with purified C-5 epimerase from bovine liver, resulted in the interconversion of glucuronic acid and IdoA residues, which reached equilibrium (30-40% IdoA/total hexuronic acid) after approx. 1 h of incubation. Similar incubations performed in the presence of (3)H(2)O resulted in progressive labelling at C-5 of the target hexuronic acid units of either substrate polysaccharide. Contrary to chemical D-gluco/L-ido equilibrium, established within 1 h of incubation, the accumulation of (3)H label continued for at least 6 h. This isotope effect suggests that the second stage of the reaction, i.e. the re-addition of a proton to the carbanion intermediate, is the rate-limiting step of the overall process. Analysis of the 5-(3)H-labelled polysaccharide products showed that the (3)H was approximately equally distributed between glucuronic acid and IdoA units, irrespective of incubation time (from 15 min to 72 h) and of the relative proportions of the two epimers in the substrate. This finding points to a catalytic mechanism in which the abstraction and re-addition of C-5 protons are effected by two polyprotic bases, presumably lysine residues. Previous experiments relating to the biosynthesis of dermatan sulphate were similarly interpreted in terms of a two-base epimerization mechanism but differed from the present findings by implicating one monoprotic and one polyprotic base function [Hannesson, Hagner-McWhirter, Tiedemann, Lindahl and Malmström (1996) Biochem. J. 313, 589-596].

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Nitric oxide degradation of heparin and heparan sulphate.

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