Tohru Sawai (1), Makoto Asada (1), Yukio Nishizawa (1), Hiroyuki Nunoi
(2) and Kouichi Katayama (1)
(1) Department of Drug Discovery, Eisai Tsukuba Research Laboratories,
5-1-3 Tokodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 300-2635, Japan
(2) Department of Pediatrics, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, 1-1-1
Honjo, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan
Abstract: Alkylamines inhibit NADPH oxidase both in intact neutrophils
and in a cell-free system. The aim of this study was to examine the mechanism
underlying this inhibitory effect. Among alkylamines with different chain
lengths, the C12 compound (laurylamine) showed the greatest inhibitory effect
on the cell-free NADPH oxidase activity induced by arachidonic acid (AA)
in the presence of GTPgammaS. The inhibition was overcome by further addition
of AA, and it was observed irrespective of whether laurylamine was added
before or after the enzyme activation by AA. When added prior to the enzyme
activation, laurylamine blocked translocation to the membrane of all three
cytosolic components (p47-phox, p67-phox and rac) in a cell-free translocation
assay. When added after the activation, laurylamine released only rac from
the membrane. Laurylamine did not inhibit the reduction of cytochrome c
by xanthine oxidase, suggesting that it does not have superoxide-scavenging
activity. These results indicate that laurylamine inhibits both the activation
process of NADPH oxidase and the activated enzyme itself by blocking the
assembly of the oxidase components.
Keywords: NADPH oxidase, Alkylamine, Arachidonic acid, Translocation,
Neutrophil