Effects of hypoxia on mnsod expression in mouse lung. Russell, William J., Ye-Shih Ho, Gregory Parish, and Robert M. Jackson. Birmingham VA Medical Center and University of AL at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL and Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
APStracts 2:0080L, 1995.
Mitochondrial, manganese-containing SOD (MnSOD) is located at the primary site of oxygen metabolism, and its expression may be regulated by changes in oxygen level. We hypothesized that lung MnSOD expression and promoter activity would decrease in response to hypoxia. We tested effects of hypoxia (10% O2 at sea level for 7d) on CAT reporter and MnSOD gene expression in transgenic mice. The transgene consisted of a 3.3 kb portion of the rat MnSOD gene 5' flanking region coupled to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. Lung MnSOD activity in male (but not female) mice decreased significantly after hypoxia exposure. The decrease in MnSOD enzymatic activity in male mice was specific. Neither total SOD nor G6-PD activity decreased significantly in hypoxia. CAT protein expression decreased in transgenic males exposed to hypoxia, while CAT protein expression in hypoxic transgenic females remained comparable to controls. The mRNA for both the native MnSOD and the MnSOD-CAT reporter genes remained constant after hypoxia, as did CuZnSOD and G6-PD mRNA's.

Received 30 August 1994; accepted in final form 10 April 1995.
APS Manuscript Number L257-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Lung Cell. Mol.
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 16 May 1995.