Hydroxyl radical detection in vivo

Hydroxyl radicals have been implicated as the actual species responsible for the deleterious effects of active oxygen in biology. However, in most cases, its presence has only been inferred by circumstantial evidence. Using electrochemical detection coupled to HPLC separation technique the authors can identify and quantitate (at sub-picomole level) the hydroxylated products of 3 aromatic compounds (phenol, salicylate, and 2-deoxy-guanosine) as a direct measure of hydroxyl radical formation. Firstly, the authors showed that mixing ascorbate with copper ions (in the absence of presence of a protein) yields catechols, dihydroxybenzoic acids and 8-OH-deoxy-guanosine (8-OHdG). This approach has been used to study the formation of OH in vivo. Human granulocytes stimulated with TPA showed that 8-OHdG was formed in the cellular DNA at high levels (one 8-OHdG/800 DNA bases). Unstimulated granulocytes contained 8-OHdG below detection level. Formation of 8-OHdG in the TPA-stimulated granulocytes DNA was decreased by the addition of SOD and catalase. Using salicylate as an in vivo scavenger of hydroxyl radicals the authors showed that the level of trapped-dihydroxybenzoic acids is increased approx.8 and approx.3 fold in the lungs and liver of paraquat-poisoned mice, respectively, as compared to normal animals. Similarly, the detected level of dihydroxybenzoic acids in the hearts of adriamycin-treated rats was increased over 100-fold as compared to the hearts of control animals.