Superoxide-dependent consumption of nitric oxide in biological media may confound in vitro experiments

NO functions ubiquitously as a biological messenger but has also been implicated in various pathologies, a role supported by many reports that exogenous or endogenous NO can kill cells in tissue culture. In the course of experiments aimed at examining the toxicity of exogenous NO towards cultured cells, we found that most of the NO delivered using a NONOate (diazeniumdiolate) donor was removed by reaction with the tissue-culture medium. Two NO-consuming ingredients were identified: Hepes buffer and, under laboratory lighting, the vitamin riboflavin. In each case, the loss of NO was reversed by the addition of superoxide dismutase. The effect of Hepes was observed over a range of NONOate concentrations (producing up to 1 microM NO). Furthermore, from measurements of soluble guanylate cyclase activity, Hepes-dependent NO consumption remained significant at the low nanomolar NO concentrations relevant to physiological NO signalling. The combination of Hepes and riboflavin (in the light) acted synergistically to the extent that, instead of a steady-state concentration of about 1 microM being generated, NO was undetectable (<10 nM). Again, the consumption could be inhibited by superoxide dismutase. A scheme is proposed whereby a "vicious cycle" of superoxide radical (O(2)(.-)) formation occurs as a result of oxidation of Hepes to its radical species, fuelled by the subsequent reaction of O(2)(.-) with NO to form peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)). The inadvertent production of ONOO(-) and other reactive species in biological media, or the associated loss of NO, may contribute to the adverse effects, or otherwise, of NO in vitro.