Role of reactive oxygen in bile salt stimulation of colonic epithelial proliferation

Our previous studies had suggested a link between bile salt stimulation of colonic epithelial proliferation and the release and oxygenation of arachidonate via the lipoxygenase pathway. In the present study, we examined the role of reactive oxygen versus end products of arachidonate metabolism via the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways in bile salt stimulation of rat colonic epithelial proliferation. Intracolonic instillation of 5 mM deoxycholate increased mucosal ornithine decarboxylase activity and [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA. Responses to deoxycholate were abolished by the superoxide dismutase mimetic CuII (3,5 diisopropylsalicylic acid)2 (CuDIPS), and by phenidone or esculetin, which inhibit both lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase activities. By contrast, indomethacin potentiated the response. Phenidone and esculetin suppressed deoxycholate-induced increases in prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), leukotriene B4 (LTB4), and 5, 12, and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE), whereas CuDIPS had no effect. Indomethacin suppressed only PGE2. Deoxycholate (0.5-5 mM) increased superoxide dismutase sensitive chemiluminescence 2-10-fold and stimulated superoxide production as measured by cytochrome c reduction in colonic mucosal scrapings or crypt epithelium. Bile salt-induced increases in chemiluminescence were abolished by CuDIPS, phenidone, and esculetin, but not by indomethacin. Intracolonic generation of reactive oxygen by xanthine-xanthine oxidase increased colonic mucosal ornithine decarboxylase activity and [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA approximately twofold. These effects were abolished by superoxide dismutase. The findings support a key role for reactive oxygen, rather than more distal products of either the lipoxygenase or cyclooxygenase pathways, in the stimulation of colonic mucosal proliferation by bile salts.