The role of p53 in nitric oxide-induced cardiomyocyte cell death

The role of p53 in mediating nitric oxide (NO)-induced cell death remains uncertain. The exogenous NO donor S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) produced a concentration-dependent reduction in cell viability in embryonic chick cardiomyocytes in culture. Western blotting and immunocytochemistry for p53 showed that p53 was increased in whole cell lysates by GSNO: 0.001 mM GSNO led to 1.3 +/- 0.5-fold increase compared to control, and significantly (p < 0.05) increased to 1.6 +/- 0.2-fold after 0.01 mM GSNO. Higher GSNO concentrations did not further increase p53 protein expression despite producing significant increases in cell death. The p53 inhibitor pifithrin did not block GSNO-induced cell death. GSNO induced morphological changes of DNA fragmentation, nuclear condensation, and cell shrinkage. Pifithrin failed to block these morphologic changes, while it antagonized the similar cellular changes induced by adriamycin, which operates in part through p53. NO induced a concentration-dependent DNA damage. When assessed by the comet assay, the damage was 2.1 +/- 0.3-fold and 2.6 +/- 0.5-fold more than the control following 0.01 mM and 1.0 mM GSNO treatments, respectively. The DNA damage was not reduced by treatment with the pifithrin, which markedly reduced DNA damage induced by adriamycin. There was no p53 translocation to mitochondria, any major cytochrome c release from mitochondria, or change in mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, cyclosporin A, which inhibits mitochondrial pore opening and cytochrome c loss, did not alter NO-induced cell death. Translocation of p53 from the cytosol to the nucleus occurred with a maximal increase of 2.9-fold in the nucleus following 1.0 mM GSNO for 24 h. These data indicate that in cardiomyocytes, NO induced marked DNA damage and translocation of p53 to the nucleus, suggesting that p53 is involved in the cellular response to NO, perhaps to modulate the genomic response to NO-induced cellular toxicity. NO-induced cell death, however, operates through p53-independent pathways, including a mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.