Role of oxidants in ischemia/reperfusion-induced granulocyte infiltration

The objective of this study was to determine whether hydrogen peroxide, iron, and/or hydroxyl radicals play a role in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced granulocyte infiltration in the feline small intestine and whether a chemoattractant is formed when superoxide or hydrogen peroxide reacts with feline extracellular fluid. In vivo determinations of granulocyte infiltration consisted of measurements of tissue myeloperoxidase activity in either the intestinal mucosa (I/R studies) or dermis (chemotaxis studies), whereas in vitro measurements of granulocyte migration were obtained using a Boyden chamber. Treatment with either catalase or the iron chelator deferoxamine significantly attenuated granulocyte infiltration into the mucosa induced by reperfusion of the ischemic intestine. Two hydroxyl radical scavengers, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethylthiourea (DMTU), were also evaluated for their ability to modulate I/R-induced granulocyte infiltration. DMTU significantly attenuated the I/R-induced granulocyte accumulation, whereas DMSO had no effect. In other experiments, we were unable to stimulate granulocyte migration with feline plasma exposed to superoxide-generating systems using both in vitro and in vivo models of leukocyte chemotaxis. However, hydrogen peroxide in the presence of either ferrous iron or hemoglobin did significantly increase the chemotactic activity of cat plasma. The results obtained from our studies suggest that either hydrogen peroxide or radical species derived from the interaction of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide with iron elicit I/R-induced granulocyte infiltration in the intestine.