Diethyldithiocarbamate inhibits the catalytic activity of xanthine oxidase.

We sought to determine the effects of the superoxide dismutase (SOD) inhibitor diethyldithiocarbamate (DETC) on vascular superoxide production. Rat aortic rings treated with DETC (10 mM) showed no change of superoxide generation (5 microM lucigenin). Likewise, DETC did not change the expression and activity of vascular soluble guanylyl cyclase, an enzyme known to be extremely sensitive to superoxide.

Effect of hypercholesterolemia on expression and function of vascular soluble guanylyl cyclase.

Background: Vasorelaxation to endothelial NO is mediated by activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) and impaired by hypercholesterolemia in animals and humans. We investigated whether hypercholesterolemia impacts expression and function of sGC.

Methods And Results: White New Zealand rabbits (n=10 per group) received a standard diet for 16 weeks (SD16) (n=20) or 32 weeks (SD32) and a cholesterol diet (7.