The copper-zinc superoxide dismutase activity in selected diseases

Specific members of the intestinal microbiota dramatically affect inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in mice. In humans, however, identifying bacteria that preferentially affect disease susceptibility and severity remains a major challenge. Here, we used flow-cytometry-based bacterial cell sorting and 16S sequencing to characterize taxa-specific coating of the intestinal microbiota with immunoglobulin A (IgA-SEQ) and show that high IgA coating uniquely identifies colitogenic intestinal bacteria in a mouse model of microbiota-driven colitis. We then used IgA-SEQ and extensive anaerobic culturing of fecal bacteria from IBD patients to create personalized disease-associated gut microbiota culture collections with predefined levels of IgA coating. Using these collections, we found that intestinal bacteria selected on the basis of high coating with IgA conferred dramatic susceptibility to colitis in germ-free mice. Thus, our studies suggest that IgA coating identifies inflammatory commensals that preferentially drive intestinal disease. Targeted elimination of such bacteria may reduce, reverse, or even prevent disease development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Endothelium-derived vascular relaxing factor (EDRF) is a humoral agent that is released by vascular endothelium and mediates vasodilator responses induced by various substances including acetylcholine and bradykinin. EDRF is very unstable, with a half-life of between 6 and 50 s, and is clearly distinguishable from prostacyclin. The chemical structure of EDRF is unknown but it has been suggested that it is either a hydroperoxy- or free radical-derivative of arachidonic acid or an unstable aldehyde, ketone or lactone. We have examined the role of superoxide anion (O-2) in the inactivation of EDRF released from vascular endothelial cells cultured on microcarrier beads and bioassayed using a cascade of superfused aortic smooth muscle strips. With this system, we have now demonstrated that EDRF is protected from breakdown by superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Cu2+, but not by catalase, and is inactivated by Fe2+. These findings indicate that O-2 contributes significantly to the instability of EDRF.