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NADPH diaphorase detects S-nitrosylated proteins in aldehyde-treated biological tissues
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

NADPH diaphorase detects S-nitrosylated proteins in aldehyde-treated biological tissues

James M. Seckler, Jinshan Shen, Tristan H. J. Lewis, Mohammed A. Abdulameer, Khalequz Zaman, Lisa A. Palmer, James N. Bates, Michael W. Jenkins and Stephen J. Lewis
Scientific reports, Vol.10(1), pp.21088-21088
12/03/2020
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78107-6
PMCID: PMC7713249
PMID: 33273578
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78107-6View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

NADPH diaphorase is used as a histochemical marker of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in aldehyde-treated tissues. It is thought that the catalytic activity of NOS promotes NADPH-dependent reduction of nitro-blue tetrazolium (NBT) to diformazan. However, it has been argued that a proteinaceous factor other than NOS is responsible for producing diformazan in aldehyde-treated tissues. We propose this is a NO-containing factor such as an S-nitrosothiol and/or a dinitrosyl-iron (II) cysteine complex or nitrosated proteins including NOS. We now report that (1) S-nitrosothiols covalently modify both NBT and TNBT, but only change the reduction potential of NBT after modification, (2) addition of S-nitrosothiols or beta- or alpha-NADPH to solutions of NBT did not elicit diformazan, (3) addition of S-nitrosothiols to solutions of NBT plus beta- or alpha-NADPH elicited rapid formation of diformazan in the absence or presence of paraformaldehyde, (4) addition of S-nitrosothiols to solutions of NBT plus beta- or alpha-NADP did not produce diformazan, (5) S-nitrosothiols did not promote NADPH-dependent reduction of tetra-nitro-blue tetrazolium (TNBT) in which all four phenolic rings are nitrated, (6) cytoplasmic vesicles in vascular endothelial cells known to stain for NADPH diaphorase were rich in S-nitrosothiols, and (7) procedures that accelerate decomposition of S-nitrosothiols, markedly reduced NADPH diaphorase staining in tissue sections subsequently subjected to paraformaldehyde fixation. Our results suggest that NADPH diaphorase in aldehyde-fixed tissues is not enzymatic but is due to the presence of NO-containing factors (free SNOs or nitrosated proteins such as NOS), which promote NADPH-dependent reduction of NBT to diformazan.
Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology Science & Technology - Other Topics

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