Catalase prevents elevation of [Ca(2+)](i) induced by alcohol in cultured canine cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells: Possible relationship to alcohol-induced stroke and brain pathology.

Several studies have suggested that alcohol-induced brain injury is associated with generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The recent findings, that antioxidants (Vitamin E and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC)) prevent intracellular Ca(2+) (Ca(2+)) overload in cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells, induced by alcohol, demonstrate indirectly that ROS formation is related to cerebral vascular injury. The present experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that catalase, an hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) scavenging enzyme, can prevent or ameliorate alcohol-induced elevation of Ca(2+). Preincubation of cultured canine cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells with catalase (20-1000 units/ml) didn't produce any apparent changes from controls in resting levels of Ca(2+) after 1-3 days. Exposure of the cerebral vascular cells to culture media containing 10-100mM ethanol resulted in significant rises in Ca(2+) (p<0.01). Although exposure of these cells to a low concentration of catalase (20 units/ml) failed to prevent the increased level of Ca(2+) induced by ethanol, concomitant addition of higher concentrations of catalase (100-1000 units/ml) and ethanol (10-100mM) inhibited or ameliorated the rises of Ca(2+) induced by ethanol either at 24h or at 3 days, in a concentration-dependent manner. Catalase, in the range of 100-200 units/ml, inhibited approximately 50% of the Ca(2+) increases caused by ethanol in the first 24h. Catalase at a concentration of 1000 units/ml inhibited completely excessive Ca(2+) accumulation. The present results when viewed in light of other recently published data suggest that H(2)O(2) generation may be one of the earliest events triggered by alcohol in alcohol-induced brain-vascular damage, neurobehavioral actions and stroke.