Scavenging effect of berbamine on active oxygen radicals in phorbol ester-stimulated human polymorphonuclear...

The scavenging effect of berbamine (Ber) on active oxygen radicals was studied, using a spin-trapping technique and a chemiluminescence (CL) method in phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) stimulated polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and in four cell-free superoxide (O2-.) or hydroxyl radical (OH.) generating systems. Ber (0.1 to 0.3 mM) effectively reduced active oxygen radicals in PMN stimulated with PMA, but had no obvious effect on oxygen consumption during the respiratory burst of PMN, measured with spin probe oxymetry. Ber (0.3 mM) prominently inhibited the CL response of PMA-stimulated PMN. The agent remarkably quenched O2-. in xanthine/xanthine oxidase and irradiation riboflavin systems and OH. in the Fenton reaction. Its scavenging action on O2-. was stronger than that of Vitamin E in the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system but the same as Vitamin E in the riboflavin system, and its action on OH. was similar to that of Vitamin E.