Dulak Józef, Józkowicz Alicja
Department of Cell Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
Acta Biochim Pol. 2003;50(1):31-47.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, tasteless and colorless gas which is generated by heme oxygenase enzymes (HOs). HOs degrade heme releasing equimolar amounts of CO, iron and biliverdin, which is subsequently reduced to bilirubin. CO shares many properties with nitric oxide (NO), an established cellular messenger. Both CO and NO are involved in neural transmission and modulation of blood vessel function, including their relaxation and inhibition of platelet aggregation. CO, like NO, binds to heme proteins, although CO binds only ferrous (FeII) heme, whereas NO binds both ferrous and ferric (FeIII). CO enhances the activity of guanylate cyclase although it is less potent than NO. In contrast, CO inhibits other heme proteins, such as catalase or cytochrome p450. The effects of CO on gene expression can be thus varied, depending on the cellular microenvironment and the metabolic pathway being influenced. In this review the regulation of gene expression by HO/CO in the cardiovascular system is discussed. Recent data, derived also from our studies, indicate that HO/CO are significant modulators of inflammatory reactions, influencing the underlying processes such as cell proliferation and production of cytokines and growth factors.
一氧化碳（CO）是一种由血红素加氧酶（HOs）产生的无色、无味、无嗅的气体。HOs降解血红素，释放等摩尔量的CO、铁和胆绿素，胆绿素随后被还原为胆红素。CO与已确定的细胞信使一氧化氮（NO）具有许多共同特性。CO和NO都参与神经传递和血管功能调节，包括血管舒张和抑制血小板聚集。与NO一样，CO与血红素蛋白结合，不过CO只与亚铁（FeII）血红素结合，而NO则与亚铁和铁（FeIII）血红素都能结合。CO能增强鸟苷酸环化酶的活性，尽管其效力不如NO。相反，CO会抑制其他血红素蛋白，如过氧化氢酶或细胞色素P450。因此，CO对基因表达的影响可能会有所不同，这取决于细胞微环境和所影响的代谢途径。在这篇综述中，将讨论HO/CO在心血管系统中对基因表达的调控。最近的数据，也来自我们的研究，表明HO/CO是炎症反应的重要调节因子，影响细胞增殖以及细胞因子和生长因子产生等潜在过程。
