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Aldose Reductase (ALR2) is defined as the first enzyme of the “polyol pathway”. As such, ALR2 would convert glucose to sorbitol through an NADPH dependent reaction. Considered a promoter of osmotic imbalance under hyperglycemic conditions, the enzyme has been under intense investigation as a critical target to prevent and control diabetic complications through the inhibition of its activity. Further characterization of ALR2 suggests its participation in cell detoxification mechanisms through the reduction of toxic aldehydes. Moreover, intriguing is the apparent involvement of the enzyme in the signalling machinery of inflammatory cell response. Here, the structural and functional assessment of ALR2 as an aldose/aldehyde reducing enzyme, and its involvement in various aspects of cell function from sugar metabolism to redox homeostasis and cell signaling are presented.

Starting from the inhibitory activity of the flavonoid Quercetin, a series of 4H-1-benzopyran-4-one derivatives was synthesized and tested for inhibition of aldose reductase, an enzyme involved in the appearance of diabetic complications. Some of the compounds obtained display inhibitory activity similar to that of Sorbinil but are more selective than Quercetin and Sorbinil with respect to the closely related enzyme, aldehyde reductase, and also possess antioxidant activity. Remarkably, these compounds possess higher pKa values than carboxylic acids, a characteristic which could make the pharmacokinetics of these compounds very interesting. Molecular modeling investigations on the structures of inhibitors bound at the active site of aldose reductase were performed in order to suggest how these new inhibitors might bind to the enzyme and also to interpret structure−activity relationships.

Two unique polypeptides, 22.4 and 16.4 kDa, were prominent in some human cataracts. Both proteins were identified as modified forms of the small heat shock protein, alphaB-crystallin. The concentration of total alphaB-crystallin in most of these cataracts was significantly increased. The 22.4-kDa protein was subsequently designated as alphaB(g). Mass spectrometric analyses of tryptic and Asp-N digests showed alphaB(g) is alphaB-crystallin minus the C-terminal lysine. alphaB(g) constituted 10-90% of the total alphaB-crystallin in these cataracts and was preferentially phosphorylated over the typical form of alphaB-crystallin. Human alphaB(g) and alphaB-crystallin were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The differences in electrophoretic mobility and the large difference in native pI values suggest some structural differences exist. The chaperone-like activity of recombinant human alphaB(g) was comparable to that of recombinant human alphaB-crystallin in preventing the aggregation of lactalbumin induced by dithiothreitol. The mechanism involved in generating alphaB(g) is not known, but a premature termination of the alphaB-crystallin gene was ruled out by sequencing the polymerase chain reaction products of the last exon for the alphaB-crystallin gene from lenses containing alphaB(g). The 16.4-kDa protein was an N-terminally truncated fragment of alphaB(g). The high concentration of alphaB-crystallin in these cataracts is the first observation of this kind in human lenses.

Bovine lens aldose reductase (alditol: NADP+oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.21) undergoes a modification induced by 2-mercaptoethanol in the presence of the redox system Fe(II)/Fe(III). The modified form (ARa) exhibits an increased hydrophobicity and tendency to aggregate. Moreover, while the native enzyme form is rather insensitive to proteolytic breakdown, the modified form is susceptible to limited proteolysis by trypsin and chymotrypsin. With both proteases, the degradation correlated with a loss of enzyme activity and results in the appearance of one molecular species of 26 KDa (for chymotrypsin) and two molecular species of 24 and 17 KDa (for trypsin). The decline in solubility and the increase in susceptibility to proteolysis of ARa suggests that the thiol-dependent metal-catalyzed modification is comparable to other oxidative systems that mark proteins for degradation.

Bovine lens aldose reductase (alditol: NADP+oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.21) undergoes a thiol-dependent oxidative modification catalyzed by the Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox system. The enzyme is inactivated by various oxygen radical generating systems. However, addition of 2-mercaptoethanol to the oxygen radical generating systems resulted in an initial increase followed by a decrease in the activity of aldose reductase. The net maximal increase in the enzyme activity was observed with 3 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 0.3 mM FeSO4, and 0.9 mM EDTA, either with or without 1 mM hypoxanthine and 37 mU/ml of xanthine oxidase. The formation of the stable, activated intermediate, ARa, appears to proceed through the reaction between the enzyme and the oxidized form of 2-mercaptoethanol which in the presence of iron, forms a mixed disulfide with a cysteine residue. Reduction of ARa with dithiothreitol released 0.7 mol of 2-mercaptoethanol per mole of enzyme and converted it to a form that resembled the native aldose reductase.

Three new series of tricyclic pyridazinones have been synthesized and tested in vitro in order to assess (i) their ability to inhibit aldose reductase enzyme (ALR2) and (ii) their specificity toward the target enzyme with respect to other related oxidoreductases, such as aldehyde reductase, sorbitol dehydrogenase, and glutathione reductase. The inhibitory capability of the most effective compounds (IC50 values ranging from 6.44 to 12.6 μM) appears to be associated with a rather significant specificity for ALR2. Molecular mechanics and molecular dynamic calculations performed on the ALR2−inhibitor complex give indications of specific interaction sites responsible for the binding, thus providing information for the design of new inhibitors with improved affinity for the enzyme.

The optimization of an affinity chromatography method on Matrex Orange resin allowed the separation of glutathione modified and native aldose reductase in crude extracts of bovine lens. The analysis of hyperbaric oxygen treated lenses revealed the formation in the intact cultured lens of an enzyme form displaying affinity column binding properties, specific activity, sensitivity to inhibition and susceptibility to activation by thiol reducing agents, all comparable to glutathione modified aldose reductase. The extent of the enzyme modification increased with the time of the oxidative treatment and was maximal in the lens nucleus. The relative increase of glutathione modified aldose reductase from cortex to the nucleus is consistent with the increase in these lens regions of the GSSG/GSH ratio.Copyright 1995, 1999 Academic Press, Inc.

Aldose reductase is inactivated by physiological disulfides such as GSSG and cystine. To study the mechanism of disulfide-induced enzyme inactivation, we examined the rate and extent of enzyme inactivation using wild-type human aldose reductase and mutants containing cysteine-to-serine substitutions at positions 80 (C80S), 298 (C298S), and 303 (C303S). The wild-type, C80S, and C303S enzymes lost >80% activity following incubation with GSSG, whereas the C298S mutant was not affected. Loss of activity correlated with enzyme thiolation. The binary enzyme-NADP+ complex was less susceptible to enzyme thiolation than the apoenzyme. These results suggest that thiolation of human aldose reductase occurs predominantly at Cys-298. Energy minimization of a hypothetical enzyme complex modified by glutathione at Cys-298 revealed that the glycyl carboxylate of glutathione may participate in a charged interaction with His-110 in a manner strikingly similar to that involving the carboxylate group of the potent aldose reductase inhibitor Zopolrestat. In contrast to what was observed with GSSG and cystine, cystamine inactivated the wild-type enzyme as well as all three cysteine mutants. This suggests that cystamine-induced inactivation of aldose reductase does not involve modification of cysteines exclusively at position 80, 298, or 303.

A chaperone-like activity of bovine lens α-crystallin against the thermal-induced aggregation of bovine lens aldose reductase is reported. While the precipitation of aldose reductase at 55°C is prevented by α-crystallin present at a ratio of aldose reductase:α-crystallin as low as 1:0.5 (w:w), the heat-induced inactivation of the enzyme occurs regardless of the presence of α-crystallin. This would suggest that, irrespective of the functional integrity of the target protein, α-crystallin interferes only with aggregation phenomena, having the potential to preserve the lens transparency. Calcium and magnesium ions at mM levels affect the antiaggregation action exerted by α-crystallin either interfering on the formation or reducing the stability of the aldose reductase:α-crystallin complex.

Bovine lens aldose reductase (alditol: NADP+oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.21) undergoes an oxidative modification, greatly stimulated by high ionic strength, upon incubation in the presence of oxygen radical generating systems (Del Corso, A., Camici, M., and Mura, U. (1987) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.148, 369–375). The enzyme modification is accompanied by a change in stereospecificity toward the two enantiomers of glyceraldehyde. In particular, the Kmfor L-glyceraldehyde of the native form increased over 150 times after the enzyme modification, with a decrease in the catalytic efficiency of over 200 times. By contrast, for the D-enantiomer the Kmincreased only 7 times with respect to the native form, with a concomitant decrease in the catalytic efficiency of only approximately 3 times. This dramatic change in stereospecificity may account for the reported apparent cooperative behavior exhibited also by highly purified electrophoretically homogeneous preparations of aldose reductase.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.