Redox conversions of methemoglobin during redox cycling of quinones and aromatic nitrocompounds.

The study focused on the effects on various redox states of hemoglobin during NADPH: cytochrome P-450 reductase-catalyzed redox cycling of quinones and nitrocompounds. The following reactions involving quinone/semiquinone and methemoglobin/oxyhemoglobin redox couples were observed: (i) the direct oxidation of oxyhemoglobin by quinones, (ii) the reduction of methemoglobin by quinones, (ii) the reduction of methemoglobin during redox cycling of quinones and nitrocompounds was partially inhibited by superoxide dismutase, and (iii) the reoxidation of oxyhemoglobin by hydrogen peroxide, formed during redox cycling was accompanied by the formation of choleglobin. Hydrogen peroxide was produced during redox cycling, and upon depletion of hydrogen peroxide by catalase, the reduction of methemoglobin significantly prevailed over oxidation of oxyhemoglobin. Furthermore, the reduction of ferrylhemoglobin to oxyhemoglobin during redox cycling was about twice as slow as the reduction of methemoglobin. For a series of compounds possessing a single-electron reduction potential (E1(7)) between 0.01 and -0.355 V, the rate constants for methemoglobin reduction by their corresponding radicals was estimated to range from 4.1 x 10(5) to 7.6 x 10(7) M-1 S-1. Radicals of the nitrocompounds were approximately 10 times less reactive as compared to quinones possessing similar E1(7) values.