Modulation by ascorbic acid of the cutaneous and hepatic biochemical effects induced by topically applied benzanthrone in mice

Effect of antioxidants on histamine receptor activation and sustained postexercise vasodilatation in humans

NEW FINDINGS

What is the central question of this study? Is exercise-induced oxidative stress the upstream exercise-related signalling mechanism that leads to sustained postexercise vasodilatation via activation of H1 and H2 histamine receptors? What is the main finding and its importance? Systemic administration of the antioxidant ascorbate inhibits sustained postexercise vasodilatation to the same extent as seen previously with H1 and H2 histamine receptor blockade following small muscle-mass exercise. However, ascorbate has a unique ability to catalyse the degradation of histamine. We also found that systemic infusion of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine had no effect on sustained postexercise vasodilatation, suggesting that exercise-induced oxidative stress does not contribute to sustained postexercise vasodilatation. An acute bout of aerobic exercise elicits a sustained postexercise vasodilatation that is mediated by histamine H1 and H2 receptor activation. However, the upstream signalling pathway that leads to postexercise histamine receptor activation is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that the potent antioxidant ascorbate would inhibit this histaminergic vasodilatation following exercise. Subjects performed 1 h of unilateral dynamic knee extension at 60% of peak power in three conditions: (i) control; (ii) i.v. ascorbate infusion; and (iii) ascorbate infusion plus oral H1 /H2 histamine receptor blockade. Femoral artery blood flow was measured (using Doppler ultrasound) before exercise and for 2 h postexercise. Femoral vascular conductance was calculated as flow/pressure. Postexercise vascular conductance was greater for control conditions (3.4 ± 0.1 ml min(-1) mmHg(-1) ) compared with ascorbate (2.7 ± 0.1 ml min(-1) mmHg(-1) ; P < 0.05) and ascorbate plus H1 /H2 blockade (2.8 ± 0.1 ml min(-1) mmHg(-1) ; P < 0.05), which did not differ from one another (P = 0.9). Given that ascorbate may catalyse the degradation of histamine in vivo, we conducted a follow-up study, in which subjects performed exercise in two conditions: (i) control; and (ii) i.v. N-acetylcysteine infusion. Postexercise vascular conductance was similar for control (4.0 ± 0.1 ml min(-1) mmHg(-1) ) and N-acetylcysteine conditions (4.0 ± 0.1 ml min(-1) mmHg(-1) ; P = 0.8). Thus, the results in the initial study were due to the degradation of histamine in skeletal muscle by ascorbate, because the histaminergic vasodilatation was unaffected by N-acetylcysteine. Overall, exercise-induced oxidative stress does not appear to contribute to sustained postexercise vasodilatation.

Skin tumorigenic potential of benzanthrone: prevention by ascorbic acid

Benzanthrone (BA) exposed occupational workers have been found to exhibit toxicological manifestations in the skin, thus it is quite likely that long term exposure may lead to skin tumorigenicity. Thus, attempts were made to elucidate the tumor initiating and promoting potentials of pure (PBA) and commercial benzanthrone (CBA). Additionally, the preventive role of ascorbic acid (AsA) was also assessed. PBA showed tumor initiating activity while CBA demonstrated tumor initiating as well as promoting activities in two-stage mouse skin tumor protocol. Further, prior treatment of AsA to PBA and CBA followed by twice weekly application of 12-o-tetradecanoyl phorbal myristate acetate (TPA) resulted into delayed onset of tumor formation and similarly single application of 7,12-dimethylbenz [α] anthracene (DMBA) followed by twice weekly application of AsA and CBA showed an increase in the latency period. Thus, AsA showed a protective effect against CBA promoted skin tumor. Furthermore, the topical application of CBA significantly increased the levels of xenobiotic enzymes. The animals topically treated with AsA along with topical application of CBA, restored all the impairment observed in enzyme activities. Thus, this study suggested that AsA can be useful in preventing PBA and CBA induced skin tumorigenicity.

Intravenous infusion of ascorbic acid decreases serum histamine concentrations in patients with allergic and non-allergic diseases

Histamine plays an important role in the development of symptoms in allergic, infectious, neoplastic and other diseases. Empirical findings have suggested beneficial effects of ascorbic acid supplementation in those diseases, and these effects are assumed to be related to a possible decrease in systemic histamine concentration. In the present study, we systematically investigated for the first time the effect of 7.5 g of intravenously administered ascorbic acid on serum histamine levels (as detected by ELISA) in 89 patients (19 with allergic and 70 with infectious diseases). When all patients were grouped together, there was a significant decline in histamine concentration from 0.83 to 0.57 ng/ml×m2 body surface area (BSA, p<0.0001). The decrease in serum histamine concentration in patients with allergic diseases (1.36 to 0.69 ng/ml×m2 BSA, p=0.0007) was greater than that in patients with infectious diseases (0.73 to 0.56 ng/ml×m2 BSA, p=0.01). Furthermore, the decline in histamine concentration after ascorbic acid administration was positively correlated with the basal, i.e. pre-therapeutic, histamine concentration. Intravenous infusion of ascorbic acid clearly reduced histamine concentrations in serum, and may represent a therapeutic option in patients presenting with symptoms and diseases associated with pathologically increased histamine concentration.

Amino acid utilization by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: specific study of histidine

Phytoplankton live in fluctuating environments where many factors such as grazing pressure, sinking, light availability, nutrient uptake and turnover influence the distribution of phytoplankton in time and space. The purpose of this study was to investigate if under conditions of depletion of inorganic nitrogen, as recorded in summer in naturals waters, phytoplanktonic species have the capability of using organic nitrogen sources, including free or combined amino acids, in addition to inorganic nitrogen. The study has focussed on histidine, the degradation of which yielding potentially three nitrogen atoms for each molecule of histidine. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CCAP 11/32A) was cultivated axenically with two different sources of nitrogen (histidine and/or ammonium). In the presence of histidine as sole source of nitrogen, cell growth was comparable to that observed with the same concentration of nitrogen in ammonium form. In the presence of both histidine and ammonium, histidine degradation was observed only when the concentration of ammonium was depleted. Under these conditions, the first two enzymes of histidine degradation pathway, histidase (EC 4.3.1.3) and urocanase (EC 4.2.1.49) were produced and were co-ordinately regulated. Histidase activity was also controlled by succinate and glutamate as carbon sources. Histidase was purified 1018-fold and partially characterized. The molecular weight of the native enzyme was estimated to 152.4 kDa corresponding to four subunits of 38.1 kDa. The enzyme did not exhibit classical Michaelis-Menten kinetics but showed a relationship between the rate of catalysis (V) and the concentration of substrate (S), characteristic of negative allosteric behavior. A Hill coefficient of 4 was measured for histidine concentrations higher than 20.5 mM.

Evaluation of dermal irritancy potential of benzanthrone-derived dye analogs: structure activity relationship

The twelve structural analogs of benzanthrone-derived dyes of commercial use were screened for their dermal irritation potential response using the Draize occlusive patch test. The test dyes, dissolved in DMSO as vehicle, were topically applied on the skin of the male Druckery rats (160 +/- 10 g) according to the OECD protocol. The potential dermal hazard was assessed in terms of the primary cutaneous irritation (PCI) index and irritancy. Irritancy was evaluated according to the AFNOR scale. In terms of irritancy, the twelve benzanthrone dyes qualified as moderately irritant (3.0-5.0) according to the above scale. In decreasing order, PCI index of the various dyes was: Navy Blue R (4.5); Jade Green XBN (4.25); 16, 17-dihydroxydibenzanthrone (3.84); Black NB (3.75), Jade Green 2G (3. 75); 3-bromobenzanthrone (3.58); Brilliant Purple 4R (3.58); Olive D (3.50); Dark Blue 2R (3.41); Olive Green B (3.33); isodibenzanthrone (3.33), and benzanthrone (3.16). These results indicate that benzanthrone-derived dyes/dye intermediates caused dermal toxicity which appears to be influenced by the number of carbonyl and amino-anthraquinone groups as well as by the presence of functional groups like halogen, nitro, hydroxy and methoxy in the parent molecule, benzanthrone.