The effects of nitric oxide and peroxynitrite on the formation of prostaglandin and arachidonoyl-CoA formed from arachidonic acid in rabbit kidney medulla microsomes.

Abstract Under physiological conditions, small amounts of free arachidonic acid (AA) are released from membrane phospholipids, and cyclooxygenase (COX) and acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) competitively act on this fatty acid to form prostaglandins (PGs) and arachidonoyl-CoA (AA-CoA). To clarify factors deciding the metabolic fate of free AA into these two pathways, we investigated the effects of a nitric oxide (NO) donor 1-hydroxyl-2-oxo-3-( N -methyl-3-aminopropyl)-3-methyl-1-triazene (NOC7), and peroxynitrite (ONOO − ) on the formation of PG and AA-CoA from high and low concentrations of AA (60 and 5 μM) in rabbit kidney medulla microsomes. The kidney medulla microsomes were incubated with 60 or 5 μM [ 14 C]-AA in 0.1 M Tris/HCl buffer (pH 8.0) containing cofactors of COX (reduced GSH and hydroquinone) and cofactors of ACS (ATP, MgCl 2 and CoA). After incubation, PG (as total PGs) and AA-CoA were separated by selective extraction using petroleum ether and ethyl acetate. When 60 μM AA was used as the substrate concentration, NOC7 stimulated the PG formation at 0.5 μM, and inhibited it at 50 and 100 μM, without affecting the AA-CoA formation. When 5 μM AA was used as the substrate concentration, NOC7 showed no effect on the PG and AA-CoA formation up to 10 μM or below, but enhanced the AA-CoA formation with a coincident decrease in the PG formation at 50 μM or over. Experiments utilizing a NO antidote, carboxy-2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide, revealed that the observed effects of NOC7 using 60 and 5 μM AA are caused by NO. On the other hand, ONOO − stimulated the PG formation from 60 μM AA, with no alteration in the AA-CoA formation at a concentration of 100 μM, but when 5 μM AA was used as the substrate concentration, it was without effect on the PG and AA-CoA formation. These findings indicate that actions of NO and ONOO − on the PG and AA-CoA formation by the kidney medulla microsomes may change depending on the substrate concentration. The effects of NO using 5 μM AA were reversed by the addition of the superoxide generating system (xanthine–xanthine oxidase plus catalase), indicating that superoxide is a vital modulator of the action of NO. These results suggest that NO, but not ONOO − , can be a regulator of the PG and AA-CoA formation at low substrate concentrations (close to the physiological concentration of AA), and that superoxide may play an important role in the action of NO.