Xanthine oxidase: evidence against a causative role in renal reperfusion injury

The conversion rates of xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) to xanthine oxidase (XO) were compared with the time course of in vivo lipid peroxidation (LPO) in an ischemia-reperfusion model of acute renal failure in the rat. LPO, measured as the renal release of malondialdehyde (MDA), was found to be markedly elevated only during the first 5 min of blood reflow following a 45-min interval of ischemia (arteriovenous MDA difference -277.3 +/- 53.5 vs. 3.7 +/- 5.7 nmol/l in controls, n = 14). After 30 min of reperfusion, arteriovenous MDA differences nearly reached control values (9.7 +/- 31.8 nmol/l, n = 7). In contrast to enhanced LPO, no significant conversion of XDH to XO was found (XO activity in controls: 23 +/- 1% of XO plus XDH activity vs. 26 +/- 3% after 45 min of ischemia, n = 7). Therefore XO-derived superoxide anion radicals cannot be considered causative for LPO in the reperfusion interval of experimental ischemic acute renal failure.