Abstract

Antioxidants function as blockers of radical processes and eliminate harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced during normal cellular metabolism. A complex antioxidant defence system has evolved to protect the cellular homeostasis. This system includes antioxidant enzymes (AOEs), such as superoxide dismutases (SODs), which are intracellular MnSOD and CuZnSOD and extracellular ECSOD, H₂O₂ scavenging enzymes catalase and glutathione peroxidase, and hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1), an important enzyme in heme metabolism, which has also been suggested to have antioxidant capacities. ROS play an important role in the pathogenesis of interstitial lung diseases. These diseases represent a group of disorders with different etiology, histopathology, treatment and prognosis. Sarcoidosis, extrinsic allergic alveolitis and two different forms of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) were included in this study.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (i-NOS), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (e-NOS) and xanthine oxidase (XAO), oxidant generating enzymes commonly associated with tissue injury, and, on the other hand, the expressions of AOEs suggested to be involved in the defence of lung tissue against oxidant stress. The methods included immunohistochemistry on lung biopsies (n=48) and Western blotting, Northern blotting or reverse polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on human inflammatory cells and cells obtained from bronchoalveolar lavage. I-NOS was intensively expressed in inflammatory, but not in fibrotic lesions, similar e-NOS expression was found in control lung and in all interstitial lung diseases, while XAO was mainly negative. MnSOD and HO-1 were highly expressed in the granulomas of sarcoidosis. In contrast the expressions of MnSOD and HO-1 in late fibrotic lesions of UIP were low or undetectable by immunohistochemistry. CuZnSOD and catalase showed similar immunoreactivity in healthy and diseased lung. A cell specific expression and regulation of various enzymes may play an important role during acute inflammatory diseases and also in the progression of lung fibrogenesis.