Oxidants and antioxidants in alveolar epithelial type II cells: in situ, freshly isolated, and cultured cells.

Antioxidant enzyme activities, H2O2 clearance, and H2O2 generation by rat alveolar epithelial type II cells were compared between in situ, freshly isolated (6 h ex vivo), and cultured cells (48 h ex vivo). Immunocytochemical studies did not show changes in catalase, Mn superoxide dismutase, or CuZn superoxide dismutase labeling density in cytoplasm, peroxisomes, or mitochondria. Numbers of peroxisomes and mitochondria per cell decreased in cultured cells. Biochemical studies showed that cell culture resulted in a significant decrease in activities of catalase (49%), glutathione reductase (50%), glutathione peroxidase (74%), and in the capacity of the cells to scavenge extracellular H2O2. Addition of the specific catalase inhibitor, aminotriazole, decreased the rate of consumption of exogenously added H2O2 in freshly isolated cells but not in cultured cells. Neither aminotriazole nor 1,3-bis (2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea, which inactivates glutathione reductase, altered H2O2 consumption by cultured cells. The rate of extracellular H2O2 release in both freshly isolated and cultured cells was 0.71 nmol.min-1.mg protein-1. It can be concluded that levels of some antioxidant enzymes fall in cultured alveolar epithelial type II cells, and that, although catalase likely plays a significant role in protection of freshly isolated cells against oxidant stress, this pathway may be less important after culture.