Methionine alters Na+,K+-ATPase activity, lipid peroxidation and nonenzymatic antioxidant defenses in rat hippocampus.

In the present study we investigated the effect of methionine exposure of hippocampus homogenates on Na+,K+-ATPase activity from synaptic plasma membrane of rats. Results showed that methionine significantly decreased this enzyme activity. We also evaluated the effect of incubating glutathione (GSH) and trolox (alpha-tocopherol) alone or combined with methionine on Na+,K+-ATPase activity. The tested antioxidants per se did not alter the enzymatic activity, but prevented the inhibitory action of methionine on Na+,K+-ATPase activity, indicating that Met inhibitory effect was probably mediated by free radical formation. Besides, we tested the in vitro effect of methionine on some parameters of oxidative stress, namely chemiluminescence, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), total radical-trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP), as well as on the antioxidant enzyme activities catalase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase in rat hippocampus. We observed that methionine significantly increased chemiluminescence and TBARS, decreased TRAP, but did not change the activity of the antioxidant enzymes. These findings suggest that reduction of Na+,K+-ATPase activity and induction of oxidative stress may be involved in the brain damage observed in human hypermethioninemia.