Role of nitric oxide and superoxide anion in spontaneous lung chemiluminescence

Inhibition of nitric oxide (.NO) synthase by nitro-L-arginine (NLA) decreased baseline chemiluminescence in a dose-dependent fashion up to 78% at 300 microM NLA. This inhibition was prevented by pretreatment with 1 mM arginine. Similarly, addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD; 200 U/ml) to the perfusion buffer inhibited spontaneous light emission by 57%. Addition of NLA after SOD or vice versa did not inhibit light emission any further, suggesting that both .NO and O2.- were precursors of the same oxidant. Production of additional extracellular O2.- by neutrophils activated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate increased light emission by >200%, but this increase was insensitive to NLA. Increasing the intracellular steady-state O2.- concentration by perfusion of control lungs with the Cu and Zn-containing SOD inhibitor diethyldithiocarbamate (1 mM) stimulated light emission up to fourfold, but this spontaneous chemiluminescence was also insensitive to NLA. In experiments using cultured endothelial cells supplemented with extracellular bovine serum albumin (BSA), 5 microM of the Ca2+ ionophore A-23187 (a stimulant of .NO synthase) stimulated chemiluminescence by 40%. This increase was again SOD and NLA sensitive. Addition of NLA after SOD or vice versa did not change light emission. These results suggest that the background chemiluminescence of isolated-perfused intact lungs may result from the constant release of small amounts of O2.- and .NO by endothelial cells into the capillary lumen, which in turn react with BSA in the perfusion buffer.