Mechanisms of conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase in ischemic rat liver and kidney

Previous studies have proposed and supported a role for the proteolytic, irreversible conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase (XO) in postischemic injury in a wide variety of organs. A second mechanism of conversion, due to sulfhydryl modification and reversible with dithiothreitol (DTT), is potentially important but has not been well investigated. In this study rat liver and kidney were found to produce significant amounts of DTT-reversible XO during normothermic global ischemia. Formation of reversible XO precedes that of irreversible XO by approximately 0.5 h with a strong correlation (r = 0.92) existing between the rate of irreversible XO formation and the concentration of reversible XO. The formation of reversible XO is preceded by a depletion of glutathione with concentrations of glutathione during ischemia correlating (r = 0.85) with the observed concentration of reversible XO. While a large increase in the extent of liver damage occurs concurrently with conversion in an in vivo liver model of liver ischemia, an ischemia-reperfusion regimen (1 h of ischemia plus 0.5 h of reperfusion) that resulted in no conversion caused significant elevations in serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase and serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase. Rats depleted of XO by tungsten dieting release 65% less enzyme after the same insult, suggesting that endogenous XO may also participate in the damage process independent of any conversion.