Desferrioxamine protects myocytes against peroxide-induced myocyte damage without affecting glutathione redox cycle turnover.

The primary defense mechanism of myocytes against peroxide-derived free radicals is the glutathione redox cycle. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether desferrioxamine protects myocytes against peroxide-induced cell damage, and if so, whether the turnover rate of the glutathione redox cycle is involved in this protection. Neonatal rat heart cell cultures were subjected to a standardized oxidative stress by a 90 min incubation with 80 mumol/l cumene hydroperoxide. The consequences of this stress protocol were described in terms of cellular concentrations of GSH, GSSG, ATP, ATP-catabolites, and Ca2+, formation of malondialdehyde to quantify lipid peroxidation, and enzyme release to quantify the relative number of irreversibly injured cells. Following pretreatment of cell cultures with 10 mmol/l desferrioxamine mesylate for 1 h, 80 mumol/l cumene hydroperoxide caused less malondialdehyde formation (at 90 min: 0.34 v 2.35 nmol), less ATP depletion (at 60 min: 16.7 v 3.6 nmol), less Ca2+ overload (at 30 min: 40 v 1500 nM) and less enzyme release (at 90 min: 4.6 v 60.5% of the cells) compared to cell cultures subjected to cumene hydroperoxide without pretreatment. However, in desferrioxamine pretreated cell cultures cumene hydroperoxide caused cellular GSH depletion (at 60 min: 19.5 v 20.8 nmol) and GSSG efflux (at 60 min: 6.3 v 6.0 nmol) which was not different from cell cultures subjected to cumene hydroperoxide without pretreatment. Added to the finding that in a cell-free system cumene hydroperoxide is a substrate for glutathione peroxidase, we conclude that desferrioxamine, by chelating free iron ions (1), prevented the formation of cumene alkoxyl and peroxyl radicals associated with protection of the myocytes, and (2) did not diminish rapid glutathione redox cycling leading to GSH depletion and GSSG efflux.