Effect of transfection with a superoxide dismutase expression plasmid on xanthine/xanthine oxidase-induced cytotoxicity in cultured rat lung cells

We inserted human Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (hSOD) cDNA into the eukaryotic expression plasmid (pRc/CMV) under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter. The hSOD expression plasmid (pRc/CMV-SOD) was transfected in L2 cells by mean of lipofection. The intracellular SOD activity in pRc/CMV-SOD transfected cells (CMV-SOD cells) was about twice that in host cells. However the level of extracellular SOD activity was similar in CMV-SOD and host cells. When exposed to xanthine (X)/xanthine oxidase (XO) to generate active oxygen species, significantly more CMV-SOD cells than host cells survived. The production of lipid peroxidation in host cells significantly increased in the presence of X/XO, but that in CMV-SOD cells did not change. Thus, transfection with SOD gene effectively prevented X/XO-induced cytotoxicity. The results indicated that increasing the level of intracellular SOD activity protected cells against extracellular superoxide anion stress.