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. 1993 Apr;108(4):920–926. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1993.tb13487.x

Arterial endothelial barrier dysfunction: actions of homocysteine and the hypoxanthine-xanthine oxidase free radical generating system.

R S Berman 1, W Martin 1
PMCID: PMC1908136  PMID: 8485631

Abstract

1. Endothelial barrier function was assessed by use of an in vitro model in which transfer of trypan blue-labelled albumin was measured across monolayers of bovine aortic endothelial cells grown on polycarbonate membranes. 2. Addition of either hypoxanthine (0.2 mM) or xanthine oxidase (20 mu ml-1) alone during a 90 min incubation did not affect albumin transfer across endothelial cell monolayers, but a combination of both increased transfer. 3. The increase in albumin transfer induced by hypoxanthine and xanthine oxidase was abolished by catalase (3 u ml-1), reduced by allopurinol (4 mM), but unaffected by superoxide dismutase (6000 u ml-1), the hydroxyl radical scavengers, mannitol (15 mM), dimethylthiourea (10 mM) and N-(2-mercaptopropionyl)-glycine (1 mM), the iron chelator, deferoxamine (0.5 mM), ferric chloride (50 microM), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, NG-nitro-L-arginine (30 microM), or the antioxidant, dithiothreitol (3 mM). 4. Hydrogen peroxide (0.1-30 mM) itself increased albumin transfer across endothelial cell monolayers, exhibiting a biphasic concentration-response curve. The increase induced by 0.1 mM hydrogen peroxide was abolished in the presence of 0.3 u ml-1 catalase whilst that induced by 10 mM hydrogen peroxide was abolished by 3000 u ml-1 catalase. 5. Homocysteine (0.5-1.5 mM) did not affect albumin transfer across endothelial monolayers when added alone, but when added in combination with copper sulphate (50 microM), which catalyses its oxidation, a significant increase in albumin transfer was observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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Selected References

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