The protective role of thiols against nitric oxide-mediated cytotoxicity in murine macrophage J774 cells

Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the cytotoxic activity of macrophages towards tumour cells and microbial pathogens. We investigated whether alteration of intracellular thiol levels modulates the cytotoxic effects of different NO donors and lipopolysaccharide-induced NO in the murine macrophage cell Line J774A.1. The NO-releasing compound S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine caused a significant concentration-dependent loss of viability of the macrophages only under glucose-limiting conditions. The cytotoxic effect of S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine was prevented by the NO scavenger 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (carboxy-PTIO). Depletion of total glutathione before exposure to S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine further decreased cell viability while pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine was protective. Comparing equimolar concentrations of various NO donors including S-nitrosoglutathione, S-nitrosocysteine and 3-morpholino-sydnonimine hydrochloride, cytotoxicity appeared to be related to the relative stability of the test compound. Both the order of stability and the order of potency for cell killing was S-nitrosoglutathione > S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine > S-nitrosocysteine = 3-morpholino-sydnonimine hydrochloride. Stimulation of the macrophages with lipopolysaccharide and interferon-gamma resulted in dose-dependent cell injury and NO production. Glutathione depletion prior to stimulation considerably decreased macrophage viability as well as the NO production. In contrast to the protective effect on S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine-mediated injury, pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine did not influence the lipopolysaccharide-mediated cytotoxicity. These results demonstrate that (a) reduction in the availability of glucose and intracellular glutathione renders the cells more vulnerable to the cytotoxic effects of NO donors, (b) in this model of cytotoxicity, long-lived NO donors were more cytotoxic than short-lived NO donors, (c) the differential effects of N-acetylcysteine on S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine-induced and bacterial lipopolysaccharide-mediated cytotoxicity support the existence of other toxic species different from NO or NO-related compounds with a potent cytotoxic activity in immunostimulated macrophages, and (d) other non-protein thiols like N-acetylcysteine may substitute for glutathione as a major component of the cellular antioxidant defense system.