title: Extracellular superoxide dismutase attenuates release of pulmonary hyaluronan from the extracellular matrix following bleomycin exposure.
abstract: The major pulmonary antioxidant enzyme involved in the protection of the lung interstitium from oxidative stress is extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD). It has been previously shown that EC-SOD knock-out mice are more susceptible to bleomycin-induced lung injury, however, the molecular mechanism(s) remains unclear. We report here that bleomycin-induced lung damage, in EC-SOD KO mice, is associated with increased hyaluronan release into alveolar fluid. Analysis of hyaluronan synthase gene expression and hyaluronan molecular weight distribution suggested that elevated levels of hyaluronan in the alveolar fluid are mostly due to its release from the interstitium. Our results indicate that EC-SOD attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary injury, at least in part, by preventing superoxide-mediated release of hyaluronan into alveolar space.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. igor.zelko@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Igor N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Zelko
authors.forename: Rodney J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Folz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D055370:Lung Injury / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001761:Bleomycin; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase