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Institute of Physiology, Medical University, Luebeck, Germany
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Horst Pagel, Ph.D., Institute of Physiology, Medical University, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Luebeck, Germany. E-mail: pagel{at}physio.mu-luebeck.de
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Specific hemoproteins have been proposed as the O2-binding part of the O2 sensor (1). Previous in vitro studies in cultures of the human hepatoma cell line HepG2 revealed an important role of membrane-bound and/or microsomal b-type cytochromes (2, 3). Similar to the NADPH-oxidase from phagocytes (4), the cytochromes generate low, nondamaging amounts of reactive O2 species dependening on the cellular O2 tension. These O2 species may oxidize sulfhydryl groups of regulatory peptides and therefore serve as signaling molecules between the O2 sensor and the transcriptional machinery of the Epo gene. Referring to this, the small, noncharged, and thus freely diffusible hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a very attractive candidate. In addition, H2O2 has a relatively long biological half-life and is far less cytotoxic than other reactive O2 species (5, 6).
From the studies in HepG2 cells the hypothesis was put forward that
high cellular levels of H2O2 under normoxia
suppress Epo synthesis, whereas low levels under hypoxia allow full
scale Epo gene expression (7, 8). Hence, H2O2
could act as a second messenger, possibly influencing cytosolic
transcription factors that bind to regulatory sequences of the Epo
gene. In fact, hypoxia-induced expression of the Epo gene is critically
dependent on the activation of an enhancer element located 3' of the
Epo gene. To this enhancer binds a protein complex termed
"hypoxia-inducible factor-1" (HIF-1), which is composed of the two
subunits HIF-1
and HIF-1ß (9, 10). Only recently, it has been
found that H2O2 reduces HIF-1 DNA-binding
activity under hypoxic conditions by destabilizing the
-subunit
(11). Strong reducing agents, however, increase HIF-1 levels by
inhibiting the proteasome-dependent degradation of the
-subunit
(12).
The present investigation was performed to determine whether this hypothesis also fits the Epo production in the kidney, the predominant site of Epo synthesis after birth. The experiments were performed with isolated serum-free perfused rat kidneys. Levels of secreted Epo and Epo messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in kidney tissue were measured during normoxic and hypoxic perfusion after the addition of H2O2 and/or H2O2-generating and -scavenging compounds.
| Materials and Methods |
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Determination of the fractional sodium reabsorption
The sodium concentrations in urine and perfusate were determined
by flame photometry (AFM 5051, Eppendorf, Hamburg,
Germany). The fractional sodium reabsorption was calculated as the
ratio of the sodium reabsorption rate to the sodium filtration
rate.
Epo measurements
Epo was measured in duplicate by an enzyme-linked immunoassay in
samples of the perfusion medium. The assay was performed according to
the instructions of the manufacturer (Medac, Hamburg, Germany), except
that rat serum Epo previously calibrated by bioassay was used as the
standard instead of human Epo.
RNA extraction and Epo mRNA quantitation
At the end of the perfusion period, kidneys were weighed,
snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen, and subsequently homogenized in
guanidinium thiocyanate solution (4 mol/liter with 0.1 mol/liter
ß-mercaptoethanol) using a Polytron homogenizer (Kinematica, Luzern,
Switzerland) at setting 10 for 20 s. From 700 µl of the
homogenate, total RNA was extracted using the acidic phenol-chloroform
method (15). After redissolving the RNA in diethylpyrocarbonate-treated
water, the concentration was determined by measuring the absorbance at
260 nm. To check the integrity of the RNA, aliquots were run on a 1.1%
formaldehyde/agarose gel. Five micrograms of total RNA were reverse
transcribed into first strand complementary DNA (cDNA) using
oligo(deoxythymidine)15 as primer for the reverse
transcriptase Moloney murine leukemia virus (Promega Corp., Heidelberg, Germany). The total volume of the reaction
was 25 µl. RT was performed at 42 C for 60 min after an initial
denaturation step at 68 C for 10 min. The reaction was terminated by
boiling the samples for 10 min. Until quantitation by competitive PCR,
cDNA stocks were kept at -20 C. All RNA samples were run in one RT
reaction to minimize differences in RT efficiency, which was less than
or equal to 5%, as determined previously (16).
Quantitation of cDNA was achieved by two PCR methods. First, the TaqMan system (PE Applied Biosystems, Weiterstadt, Germany) was used according to the manufacturers instructions. Primers were selected by the software provided by PE Applied Biosystems for TaqMan and had the following sequences: upstream, 5'-CTCCGAACACTCACAGCGG-3'; downstream, 5'-GGTCACCTGTCCCCTCTCCT-3'; and internal hybridization oligo, 5'-CGGGTCTACTCCAACTTCCTCCGGG-3'. The reaction temperatures were 95 and 55 C.
Second, a competitive PCR was performed as described previously (16). Each sample was checked for possible DNA contamination. Competitive PCR led to the same mean values, albeit a higher SE due to the lower resolution of this method.
Statistics
The data were normalized to 1 g kidney wet weight (based on the
weight of the left, nonperfused kidney) and are given as the mean
± SEM. The results of Epo mRNA quantitation are expressed
as the percentage of Epo mRNA in hypoxically perfused rat kidneys and
are the mean ± SEM of the data obtained with the
TaqMan system. To compare Epo production during hypoxia with that
during normoxia, a two-way ANOVA was performed. Within the factor time,
Helmert contrasts were calculated (multiple ANOVA in SPSS-X).
Dunnetts test was applied to compare a control mean with several
treatment means. P < 0.05 was set as the significance
level.
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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The addition of 5% erythrocytes to the perfusion medium improves kidney function (19), but increasing the hematocrit of more than 5% shows no further improvement (20). It is important to note that the Epo production rate in the isolated perfused kidney is independent of the concentration of erythrocytes in the perfusion medium (13).
To check a possible nephrotoxicity of the used pro- and antioxidative compounds in the chosen concentrations, the fractional renal sodium reabsorption, a very sensitive marker for an intact renal metabolism, was determined. Under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, the fractional sodium reabsorption of the treatment groups was not statistically different from that of the respective controls, indicating a normal function of the isolated perfused rat kidney.
The aim of the present study was to get more insights into the mechanisms by which a variation in the renal O2 supply is transduced into an appropriate Epo production. Recently, reactive O2 species at low, nontoxic concentrations have been recognized as intracellular signaling molecules (21). The human hepatoma cell line HepG2 produces H2O2 depending on the pericellular pO2. The highest amounts of secreted Epo in the culture supernatant were found at pO2 values where H2O2 production was lowest (7). However, as in adult life the kidneys are the primary site for Epo synthesis, we studied the effect of redox-modifying agents of Epo production in isolated perfused rat kidneys.
The addition of the antioxidants DFO or vitamin A to the normoxic perfusion medium increased renal Epo synthesis and almost completely mimicked hypoxia. This would be in line with the hypothesis that reactive O2 species, especially H2O2, suppress Epo production under normoxic conditions. Under hypoxia, when reduced endogenous production of reactive O2 species allows full scale Epo production, both exogenous H2O2 and the stimulation of endogenous H2O2 formation by pyrogallol significantly suppressed the rate of Epo production. The iron chelator DFO or the hydroxyl scavenger TMTU completely antagonized the H2O2-induced suppression of the Epo production in the isolated perfused rat kidney. These Epo protein data reflected the respective data of the Epo mRNA levels in kidney tissue.
Our data suggest that reactive O2 species control renal Epo
production and thus participate in the O2-sensing process
in the kidney. The results herein from experiments with isolated
kidneys corroborate similar data that have been obtained from cell
culture studies with HepG2 hepatoma cells (7). Thus,
H2O2 seems to be an attractive candidate for a
signaling molecule between the renal O2 sensor and the
transcriptional activator(s) of the Epo gene. As the suggested mode of
action of DFO is an interference with the decomposition of
H2O2 to OH. (Fenton reaction) (8),
it was important to see this antagonistic effect in the kidney as well.
Moreover, it appears reasonable to assume that the DFO-dependent
induction of Epo production under normoxic conditions is also due to
the inhibition of hydroxyl radical production from endogenously
produced H2O2. Thus, DFO may mimic hypoxia in
human hepatoma cells and rat kidneys without removing iron from
putative hemeproteins (1). In a very recent publication, Srinivas
et al. (22) reported that HIF-1
itself appears to be a
nonheme iron protein. At least within hepatoma cells, hydroxyl radicals
are preferentially detected in close vicinity of the nucleus (23), and
one may speculate that they are generated from
H2O2 in the presence of iron proteins such as
HIF-1
. A local Fenton-type reaction would explain the reduced
stability of HIF-1
-protein upon H2O2
treatment (11).
Therefore, the lack of effect of DFO under hypoxic conditions, when little H2O2 is generated by the kidney, was less surprising than the H2O2-dependent inhibition of Epo production at perfusion with high pO2. After our hypothesis even under these normoxic conditions one can expect some HIF-1 activation, which was abolished by the addition of H2O2.
Under hypoxic conditions the production of Epo in the isolated perfused rat kidney significantly increased when vitamin A was added to the perfusion medium. Carotenoids are considered antioxidants because of their capacity to scavenge reactive O2 species (24). The vitamin A-induced increase in Epo production disappeared after the addition of H2O2. However, unlike DFO, vitamin A also increased Epo synthesis under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. This finding is in line with the results of corresponding experiments in Hep3B and HepG2 cells (16, 25). Okano et al. have proposed that vitamin A activates Epo gene transcription, because Epo mRNA levels are elevated in vitamin A-treated HepG2 cell cultures (25). As vitamin A, in addition to its ability to scavenge reactive O2 species (24), also binds to retinoic acid receptors, one may speculate that its action is mediated through binding to the steroid-responsive element (DR-2 sequence) in the 3'-enhancer region of the Epo gene (25).
Based on the findings presented herein together with the current
knowledge from the literature, it can be proposed that
H2O2 acts as a negative signaling molecule
connecting O2-sensitive hemeproteins with the Epo gene
transcription factor(s). The lack of H2O2 in
hypoxia allows for an increased Epo gene transcription. Possibly,
HIF-1
may be the oxygen sensor and/or the effector of
H2O2 function. Moreover, our data are in line
with previous reports of the important role of
H2O2 in other O2 sensor systems,
such as in preparations of the carotid body (26), pulmonary
neuroepithelial bodies (27), or pulmonary resistance vessels (28).
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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Received July 14, 1998.
| References |
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-subunit of neutrophil NADPH oxidase and
ecto-5'-nucleotidase in kidney and liver. Kidney Int 51:479482[Medline]
subunit. J Biol Chem 271:3225332259
(HIF-1
) protein is rapidly degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome
system under normoxic conditions. J Biol Chem 272:2264222647
(HIF-1
) is a non-heme iron
protein. J Biol Chem 273:1801918022This article has been cited by other articles:
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