Mitochondrial thiol status in the liver is altered by exposure to hyperoxia

Patients with poorly functioning lungs often require treatment with high concentrations of supplemental oxygen, which, although often necessary to sustain life, can cause lung injury. The mechanisms responsible for hyperoxic lung injury have been investigated intensely and most probably involve oxidant stress responses, but the details are not well understood. In the present studies, we exposed adult male C57/Bl6 mice to >95% O2 for up to 72 h and obtained lung and liver samples for assessment of lung injury, measurements of tissue concentrations of coenzyme A (CoASH) and the corresponding mixed disulfide with glutathione (CoASSG), as possible biomarkers of intramitochondrial thiol redox status. Subcellular fractions were prepared from both tissues for determination of glutathione reductase (GR) activities. Lung injury in the hyperoxic mice was demonstrated by increases in lung weight to body weight ratios at 48 h and by increases in bronchoalveolar lavage protein concentrations at 72 h. Lung CoASH concentrations declined in the hyperoxic mice, but CoASSG concentrations were not increased nor were CoASH/CoASSG ratios decreased, as would be expected for an oxidant shift in mitochondrial thiol-disulfide status. Interestingly, CoASSG concentrations increased (from 6.72+/-0.54 to 14.10+/-1.10 nmol/g of liver in air-breathing controls and 72 h of hyperoxia, respectively, P<0.05), and CoASH/CoASSG ratios decreased in the livers of mice exposed to hyperoxia. Some apparent effects of duration of hyperoxia on GR activities in lung or liver cytosolic, mitochondrial, or nuclear fractions were observed, but the changes were not consistent or progressive. Yields of isolated hepatic nuclear protein were decreased in the hyperoxic mice within 24 h of exposure, and by 72 h of hyperoxia, protein recoveries in purified nuclear fractions had declined from 41.8 to 14.8 mg of protein/g animal body weight. Concentrations of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase were diminished in hepatic mitochondria of hyperoxic mice. A second protein in hepatic mitochondria of approximately 25 kDa showed apparent decreases in thiol content, as determined by fluorescence intensities of monobromobimane derivatives separated by SDS-PAGE. The mechanisms responsible for the observed effects and the possible implications for the adverse effects of hyperoxic therapies are not known and need to be investigated.