Inhibition by methylene blue of the L-arginine metabolism to L-citrulline coupled with nitric oxide synthesis in cultured endothelial cells

Abstract

The effect of methylene blue on the metabolism of L-arginine to L-citrulline coupled with nitric oxide synthesis in cultured endothelial cells was investigated. The addition of the calcium ionophore ionomycin (10(-8)-10(-5) M) to endothelial cells stimulated L-citrulline formation from L-arginine. Ionomycin-stimulated L-citrulline formation was inhibited by NG-nitro-L-arginine (10(-6)-10(-4) M), a potent inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase. These results indicate that ionomycin-stimulated L-citrulline formation was coupled to nitric oxide synthesis. Therefore, L-citrulline formation from L-arginine was used as a marker for nitric oxide synthesis. Methylene blue (10(-4)-10(-3) M) inhibited ionomycin-stimulated L-citrulline formation in bovine aortic endothelial cells. Moreover, the formation of L-citrulline by the particulate fraction obtained from bovine cultured endothelial cells was also inhibited by methylene blue concentrations in excess of 10(-5) M. Although the addition of methylene blue to various tissues has been reported to release superoxide anions (Wolin et al., 1990; Marczin et al., 1992), inhibition of L-citrulline formation by methylene blue was not affected by the presence of superoxide dismutase (100 micrograms/mL) in either cultured endothelial cells or the particulate fraction. These findings suggest that methylene blue is a direct inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase in bovine aortic endothelial cells.