Kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase activity and neurotoxic kynurenine metabolites increase in the spinal cord of rats with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.

Kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase, one of the key enzymes of the "kynurenine pathway", catalyses the formation of 3-hydroxykynurenine and may direct the neo-synthesis of quinolinic and kynurenic acids. While 3-hydroxykynurenine and quinolinic acid have neurotoxic properties, kynurenic acid antagonizes excitotoxic neuronal death. Here we report that the expression and activity of kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase significantly increased in the spinal cord of rats with experimental allergic encephalopathy, an experimental model of multiple sclerosis. As a consequence of this increase, the spinal cord content of 3-hydroxykynurenine and quinolinic acid reached neurotoxic levels. We also report that systemic administration of Ro 61-8048, a selective kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase inhibitor, reduced the increase of both 3-hydroxykynurenine and quinolinic acid, and caused accumulation of kynurenic acid. In the brain and spinal cord of the controls, kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase immunoreactivity was located in granules (probably mitochondria) present in the cytoplasm of both neurons and astroglial cells. In the spinal cord of rats with experimental allergic encephalopathy, however, cells with a very intense kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase immunoreactivity, also able to express class II major histocompatibility complex and inducible nitric oxide synthase, were found in perivascular, subependymal and subpial locations. These cells (most probably macrophages) were responsible for the large increase in 3-hydroxykynurenine and quinolinic acid found in the spinal cords of affected animals. The results show that cells of the immune system are responsible for the increased formation of 3-hydroxykynurenine and quinolinic acid, two neurotoxic metabolites that accumulate in the central nervous system of rats with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. They also demonstrate that selective kynurenine 3-mono-oxygenase inhibitors reduce the neo-synthesis of these toxins.