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ToxSci Advance Access published online on July 13, 2005
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfi253
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received May 4, 2005
Accepted June 29, 2005

Environmental Toxicology

Butylhydroquinone protects cells genetically deficient in glutathione biosynthesis from arsenite-induced apoptosis without significantly changing their prooxidant status

Simone Kann 1 *, Cameron Estes 2 *, John F. Reichard 2, Ming-ya Huang 2, Maureen A. Sartor 2, Sandy Schwemberger 3, Ying Chen 2, Timothy P. Dalton 2, Howard G. Shertzer 2, Ying Xia 2, and Alvaro Puga 2*

1 Center for Environmental Genetics and Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, P.O. Box 670056, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0056; Current address: Grünenthal GmbH, 52099 Aachen, Germany
2 Center for Environmental Genetics and Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, P.O. Box 670056, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0056
3 Center for Environmental Genetics and Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, P.O. Box 670056, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0056; Shriners Hospital for Children, Cincinnati, OH 45229

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Alvaro Puga, E-mail: Alvaro.Puga{at}UC.EDU


  Abstract

Arsenic, first among the top environmentally hazardous substances, is associated with skin, lung, liver, kidney, prostate and bladder cancer. Arsenic is also a cardiovascular and a central nervous system toxicant, and has genotoxic and immunotoxic effects. Paradoxically, arsenic trioxide is used successfully in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukaemia and multiple myeloma. Arsenic induces oxidative stress and its toxicity is decreased by free thiols and increased by glutathione depletion. To further characterize the role of glutathione and oxidative stress in the toxicity of arsenic, we have used fetal fibroblasts from Gclm-/- mice, which lack the modifier subunit of glutamate-cysteine ligase, the rate-limiting enzyme in glutathione biosynthesis. Gclm-/- MEFs are eight times more sensitive to arsenite-induced apoptotic death. Due to a dramatic decrease of glutathione levels, Gclm-/- MEFs have a high prooxidant status that is not significantly relieved by treatment with the phenolic antioxidant tBHQ; however, tBHQ blocks arsenite-induced apoptosis in both Gclm+/+ and Gclm-/- cells, although it raises a significant antioxidant response only in Gclm+/+ cells. Global gene expression profiles indicate that tBHQ is significantly effective in reversing arsenite-induced gene deregulation in Gclm+/+ but not in Gclm-/- MEFs. This effect of tBHQ is evident in the expression of metalloproteases and chaperones and in expression of genes involved in DNA damage and repair, protein biosynthesis, cell growth and maintenance, apoptosis and cell cycle regulation. These results suggest that regulation of glutathione levels by GCLM determines the sensitivity to arsenic-induced apoptosis by setting the overall ability of the cells to mount an effective antioxidant response.

Keywords: Arsenic; oxidative stress; apoptosis; glutathione; global gene expression analysis; Gclm knockout.

*These two authors contributed equally to the work in this article


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