Publications by authors named "Ronald P Mason"

The only general technique that allows the unambiguous detection of free radicals is electron spin resonance (ESR). However, ESR spin trapping has severe limitations especially in biological systems. The greatest limitation of ESR is poor sensitivity relative to the low steady-state concentration of free radical adducts, which in cells and in vivo is much lower than the best sensitivity of ESR.

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Background: Development of resistance to chemotherapy drugs is a significant problem in treating human malignancies in the clinic. Overexpression of drug efflux proteins, including P-170 glycoprotein (P-gp), an ATP-dependent efflux protein, is one of the main mechanisms responsible for multi-drug resistance (MDR). Because our previous studies have shown that nitric oxide (NO) or its related species inhibit the ATPase activities of topoisomerase II, we hypothesized that NO should also inhibit the ATPase activity of P-gp and increase drug accumulation in MDR cells, causing a reversal of drug resistance.

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Superoxide radical anion (O) and other reactive oxygen species are constantly produced during respiration. In mitochondria, the dismutation of O is accelerated by the mitochondrial superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), an enzyme that has been traditionally associated with antioxidant protection. However, increases in SOD2 expression promote oxidative stress, indicating that there may be a prooxidant role for SOD2.

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Exposure to (bi)sulfite (HSO) and sulfite (SO) has been shown to induce a wide range of adverse reactions in sensitive individuals. Studies have shown that peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation of (bi)sulfite leads to formation of several reactive free radicals, such as sulfur trioxide anion (.SO), peroxymonosulfate (OSOO.

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It is widely accepted that free radicals in tobacco smoke lead to oxidative stress and generate the popular lipid peroxidation biomarker 8-iso-prostaglandin F (8-iso-PGF). However, 8-iso-PGF can simultaneously be produced in vivo by the prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthases (PGHS) induced by inflammation. This inflammation-dependent mechanism has never been considered as a source of elevated 8-iso-PGF in tobacco smokers.

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Topotecan, a derivative of camptothecin, is an important anticancer drug for the treatment of various human cancers in the clinic. While the principal mechanism of tumor cell killing by topotecan is due to its interactions with topoisomerase I, other mechanisms, e.g.

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Background: Topoisomerase poisons are important drugs for the management of human malignancies. Nitric oxide (NO), a physiological signaling molecule, induces nitrosylation (or nitrosation) of many cellular proteins containing cysteine thiol groups, altering their cellular functions. Topoisomerases contain several thiol groups which are important for their activity and are also targets for nitrosation by nitric oxide.

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Nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling maintains the redox homeostasis and its activation is shown to suppress cardiac maladaptation. Earlier we reported that acute endurance exercise (2 days) evoked antioxidant cytoprotection in young WT animals but not in aged WT animals. However, the effect of repeated endurance exercise during biologic aging (WT) characterized by an inherent deterioration in Nrf2 signaling and pathological aging (pronounced oxidative susceptibility-Nrf2 absence) in the myocardium remains elusive.

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The notion that oxidative stress plays a role in virtually every human disease and environmental exposure has become ingrained in everyday knowledge. However, mounting evidence regarding the lack of specificity of biomarkers traditionally used as indicators of oxidative stress in human disease and exposures now necessitates re-evaluation. To prioritize these re-evaluations, published literature was comprehensively analyzed in a meta-analysis to quantitatively classify the levels of systemic oxidative damage across human disease and in response to environmental exposures.

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Fluorescent proteins are an important tool that has become omnipresent in life sciences research. They are frequently used for localization of proteins and monitoring of cells [1,2]. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) was the first and has been the most used fluorescent protein.

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Background: The pathological features of Parkinson's disease (PD) include an abnormal accumulation of α-synuclein in the surviving dopaminergic neurons. Though PD is multifactorial, several epidemiological reports show an increased incidence of PD with co-exposure to pesticides such as Maneb and paraquat (MP). In pesticide-related PD, mitochondrial dysfunction and α-synuclein oligomers have been strongly implicated, but the link between the two has not yet been understood.

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The accurate and sensitive detection of biological free radicals in a reliable manner is required to define the mechanistic roles of such species in biochemistry, medicine and toxicology. Most of the techniques currently available are either not appropriate to detect free radicals in cells and tissues due to sensitivity limitations (electron spin resonance, ESR) or subject to artifacts that make the validity of the results questionable (fluorescent probe-based analysis). The development of the immuno-spin trapping technique overcomes all these difficulties.

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Background: Etoposide and doxorubicin, topoisomerase II poisons, are important drugs for the treatment of tumors in the clinic. Topoisomerases contain several free sulfhydryl groups which are important for their activity and are also potential targets for nitric oxide (NO)-induced nitrosation. NO, a physiological signaling molecule nitrosates many cellular proteins, causing altered protein and cellular functions.

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Oxidative stress is elevated in numerous environmental exposures and diseases. Millions of dollars have been spent to try to ameliorate this damaging process using anti-oxidant therapies. Currently, the best accepted biomarker of oxidative stress is the lipid oxidation product 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (8-iso-PGF2α), which has been measured in over a thousand human and animal studies.

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Camptothecin (CPT), a topoisomerase I poison, is an important drug for the treatment of solid tumors in the clinic. Nitric oxide (·NO), a physiological signaling molecule, is involved in many cellular functions, including cell proliferation, survival and death. We have previously shown that ·NO plays a significant role in the detoxification of etoposide (VP-16), a topoisomerase II poison in vitro and in human melanoma cells.

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Oxidative stress can induce the generation of free radicals, which are believed to play an important role in both physiological and pathological processes and a number of diseases such as cancer. Therefore, it is important to identify chemicals which are capable of inducing oxidative stress. In this study, we evaluated the ability of four environmental chemicals, aniline, nitrosobenzene (NB), N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA) and N,N-dimethyl-4-nitrosoaniline (DMNA), to induce free radicals and cellular damage in the hepatoma cell line HepG2.

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Proteins comprise a majority of the dry weight of a cell, rendering them a major target for oxidative modification. Oxidation of proteins can result in significant alterations in protein molecular mass such as breakage of the polypeptide backbone and/or polymerization of monomers into dimers, multimers, and sometimes insoluble aggregates. Protein oxidation can also result in structural changes to amino acid residue side chains, conversions that have only a modest effect on protein size but can have widespread consequences for protein function.

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Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play prominent roles in numerous biological systems. While classically expressed by neutrophils and macrophages, CD4 T cells also express NADPH oxidase (NOX), the superoxide-generating multisubunit enzyme. Our laboratory recently demonstrated that superoxide-deficient nonobese diabetic (NOD.

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Free radicals are associated with glioma tumors. Here, we report on the ability of an anticancer nitrone compound, OKN-007 [Oklahoma Nitrone 007; a disulfonyl derivative of α-phenyl-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN)] to decrease free radical levels in F98 rat gliomas using combined molecular magnetic resonance imaging (mMRI) and immunospin-trapping (IST) methodologies. Free radicals are trapped with the spin-trapping agent, 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO), to form DMPO macromolecule radical adducts, and then further tagged by immunospin trapping by an antibody against DMPO adducts.

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Background: Mn/Fe-superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a family of enzymes essential for organisms to be able to cope with oxygen. These enzymes bound to their classical metals catalyze the dismutation of the free radical superoxide anion (O2(-)) to H2O2 and molecular oxygen. E.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons and motor deficits. Alpha-synuclein-containing aggregates represent a feature of a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, including PD; however, the mechanism that initiates and promotes intraneuronal alpha-synuclein aggregation remains unknown. We hypothesized protein radical formation as an initiating mechanism for alpha-synuclein aggregation.

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Extracellular or free hemoglobin (Hb) accumulates during hemolysis, tissue damage, and inflammation. Heme-triggered oxidative reactions can lead to diverse structural modifications of lipids and proteins, which contribute to the propagation of tissue damage. One important target of Hb׳s peroxidase reactivity is its own globin structure.

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The biomarker 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (8-iso-PGF2α) is regarded as the gold standard for detection of excessive chemical lipid peroxidation in humans. However, biosynthesis of 8-iso-PGF2α via enzymatic lipid peroxidation by prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthases (PGHSs), which are significantly induced in inflammation, could lead to incorrect biomarker interpretation. To resolve the ambiguity with this biomarker, the ratio of 8-iso-PGF2α to prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) is established as a quantitative measure to distinguish enzymatic from chemical lipid peroxidation in vitro, in animal models, and in humans.

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This is the newest report in a series of publications aiming to identify a blood-based antioxidant biomarker that could serve as an in vivo indicator of oxidative stress. The goal of the study was to test whether acutely exposing Göttingen mini pigs to the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) results in a loss of antioxidants from plasma. We set as a criterion that a significant effect should be measured in plasma and seen at both doses and at more than one time point.

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The antitumor drugs doxorubicin and etoposide, a phodophyllotoxin derivative, are clinically active for the treatment of human malignancies. Because of their extreme effectiveness in the clinic, their modes of actions have been the subject of intense research for over several decades both in the laboratory and in the clinic. It has been found that both doxorubicin and etoposide (VP-16) act on topoisomerase II, induce DNA cleavage, and form double-strand breaks, causing tumor cell death.

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