Quantitative analysis of cardiac 3-L-nitrotyrosine during acute allograft rejection in an experimental heart transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Recent studies have shown that nitric oxide interacts with superoxide to form peroxynitrite, a potent oxidant that modifies cellular proteins producing 3-L-nitrotyrosine (N-Tyr). This study was designed to evaluate N-Tyr quantitatively with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) during cardiac allograft rejection.


METHODS
Rat transplanted hearts (allogeneic or syngeneic grafts) were examined with HPLC analysis, immunohistochemistry for N-Tyr, and histological studies on 0, 1, 3, and 7 days after transplantation.


RESULTS
No histological rejection was found in syngeneic grafts, or day 0 or 1 allografts. HPLC demonstrated that N-Tyr in allografts increased on day 1 and continued to increase through day 7, while N-Tyr was not detected in any syngeneic grafts. Immunostaining of the allografts did not show N-Tyr on day 1.


CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate that N-Tyr shows a time-dependent accumulation in cardiac allografts during acute rejection. N-Tyr detection using HPLC may be an useful maker for early diagnosis of acute rejection before pathological rejection occurs.
Sakurai
M
M
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Fukuyama
N
N
Iguchi
A
A
Akimoto
H
H
Ohmi
M
M
Yokoyama
H
H
Nakazawa
H
H
Tabayashi
K
K
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000378:metabolism*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism
C002744:3-nitrotyrosine; D014443:Tyrosine