Possible involvement of membrane lipids peroxidation and oxidation of catalytically essential thiols of the cerebral transmembrane sodium pump as component mechanisms of iron-mediated oxidative stress-linked dysfunction of the pump's activity.

The precise molecular events defining the complex role of oxidative stress in the inactivation of the cerebral sodium pump in radical-induced neurodegenerative diseases is yet to be fully clarified and thus still open. Herein we investigated the modulation of the activity of the cerebral transmembrane electrogenic enzyme in Fe(2+)-mediated in vitro oxidative stress model. The results show that Fe(2+) inhibited the transmembrane enzyme in a concentration dependent manner and this effect was accompanied by a biphasic generation of aldehydic product of lipid peroxidation. While dithiothreitol prevented both Fe(2+) inhibitory effect on the pump and lipid peroxidation, vitamin E prevented only lipid peroxidation but not inhibition of the pump. Besides, malondialdehyde (MDA) inhibited the pump by a mechanism not related to oxidation of its critical thiols. Apparently, the low activity of the pump in degenerative diseases mediated by Fe(2+) may involve complex multi-component mechanisms which may partly involve an initial oxidation of the critical thiols of the enzyme directly mediated by Fe(2+) and during severe progression of such diseases; aldehydic products of lipid peroxidation such as MDA may further exacerbate this inhibitory effect by a mechanism that is likely not related to the oxidation of the catalytically essential thiols of the ouabain-sensitive cerebral electrogenic pump.