Antioxidant effect of zinc and zinc-metallothionein in the acute cytotoxicity of hydrogen peroxide in Ehrlich ascites tumour cells

This study was concerned with the role of zinc (Zn) and zinc-metallothionein (Zn-MT) in oxidative stress. Hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative injury was examined in Ehrlich ascites tumour cells isolated from control host mice, mice pretreated with 10 mg/kg ZnSO4 (i.p.) to increase cellular Zn/Zn-MT levels, and mice exposed to Zn-deficient diet to reduce the cellular Zn/Zn-MT levels. The results of the present study showed that Ehrlich cells with seven-fold differences in Zn-MT concentrations could be obtained by manipulating the Zn status of host mice and that high Zn and Zn-MT levels can make Ehrlich cells more resistant to H2O2-induced oxidative injury (cell viability, lipid peroxidation, [Ca2+]i) while cells with reduced Zn/Zn-MT levels were more susceptible to this treatment. H2O2 treatment resulted in oxidation of MT thiolate groups and loss of its metal binding capacity with translocation of Zn released from oxidized MT to other cellular sites. Preincubation of Ehrlich cells with ZnSO4 in vitro also conferred some degree of resistance to H2O2 toxicity, suggesting the inherent antioxidative property of Zn ions. These data suggested that Zn-MT can be considered as an antioxidant by virtue of its thiolate groups and its Zn ions that are released in the presence of oxidative stress.     

Influence of chloride ligands on the structure of Zn- and Cd-metallothionein species

It is now commonly accepted that non-proteic ligands contribute to the structure and stability of metal-metallothionein (M-MT) species, although this contribution may differ substantially depending on the MT and the metal ions involved. Conversely, literature data are unconnected, lacking correlation studies between the contribution of inorganic ligands to the M-MT complexes and the corresponding CD and UV-vis fingerprints. To contribute towards filling this gap, we have analyzed the influence of chloride anions in the Zn- and Cd-MT complexes of mammalian MT1 and MT4 isoforms. Starting from the initial hypothesis that the shoulders appearing at 240nm in the UV-vis difference spectra during the Cd(II) titrations of Zn-MTs would be indicative of chloride participation in these metal-MT complexes, we can now propose that, while their absence definitely rules out these ligands being involved in metal coordination, their presence should not necessarily be attributed to the formation of metal-Cl bonds. Instead, we identified a global blue shift for the UV-vis difference spectral envelope as the most liable indication of chloride participation in the binding sites of the M-MT species. Following this criterion, we determined that chloride anions are bound to the Cd(7)-MT1 and Cd(4)-alphaMT1 complexes but not in the isostoichiometric Zn complexes, nor in the Zn- or Cd-complexes of the homologous MT4 peptides.     

Interprotein metal ion exchange between cadmium-carbonic anhydrase and apo- or zinc-metallothionein

 − 1  s^− 1 at 25 °C and pH 7.4 in Tris.HCl buffer and 0.1 M KCl. At 25 °C, Zn₇-metallothionein also exchanged metal ions with Cd-carbonic anhydrase with a rate constant of 0.33 ± 0.02 M^− 1 s^− 1 to reconstitute enzymatically active protein. Cd-carbonic anhydrase reacted within the time of mixing with the peptide sequence 49–61 of rabbit metallothionein 2 which contains four cysteinyl residues, leading to the exchange of most of the Cd²⁺ into the peptide. At pH 7.4 and 25 °C, Cd²⁺ has higher affinity for apometallothionein than for the apo-peptide. Received: 25 February 1999 / Accepted: 17 September 1999     

锌_7-与镉_7-金属硫蛋白对羟自由基损伤大鼠红细胞膜保护作用的比较

用电子自旋共振自旋标记物氮氧自由基硬脂酸和马来酰亚胺标记大鼠红细胞膜脂和膜蛋白,测定膜脂流动性和膜蛋白构象改变,以硫代巴比妥酸法测定脂质过氧化产物丙二醛含量．结果表明,锌7-与镉7-金属硫蛋白对羟自由基引起的膜脂流动性减低、脂质过氧化反应增强双膜蛋白构象改变有明显抑制作用,而且,前者的作用明显强于后者．