Inactivation of firefly luciferase and rat erythrocyte ATPase by ultrasound

Previous work in our laboratories has shown that, amongst other effects, irradiation of frog skin with low intensity ultrasound causes reductions in the chemical driving force of the short-circuit current. This indicated that either the Na/K dependent ATPase or ATP availability were being reduced. We measured the effect of ultrasound irradiation on ATP and NA/K-dependent ATPase from inverted erythrocyte ghosts and on firefly luciferin and luciferase activity. Our findings demonstrate that ultrasonic cavitation-induced sonochemical reactions were responsible for irreversible inactivation of luciferase and ATPase but had little or no effect on ATP and luciferin. We measured the levels of hydrogen peroxide generated by ultrasound under the conditions of our experiments and found that it could account for only part of the enzyme inactivation observed. Free radical scavengers/antioxidants were capable of fully protecting the enzymes from ultrasound-induced inactivation. These findings demonstrate that, in addition to hydrogen peroxide, free radicals generated by ultrasound are responsible for the effects.