Regulation of the superoxide-forming NADPH oxidase of human neutrophils is not altered in essential hypertension.

Neutrophils possess a plasma-membrane-bound reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase which catalyzes superoxide (O2-) formation and is activated by a variety of stimuli. Recently, neutrophils of patients with essential hypertension (EHT) have been reported to generate O2- at rates up to fourfold higher than those of normotensive (NT) subjects upon exposure to the chemotactic peptide N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMet-Leu-Phe). We studied regulation of O2- formation in neutrophils of 25 EHT subjects and 25 age- and sex-matched NT subjects. The intercellular signal molecules fMet-Leu-Phe, platelet-activating factor and leukotriene B4 activated O2- formation in neutrophils, but the latter two receptor agonists were less effective than the former. fMet-Leu-Phe activated O2- formation with a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of about 30 nmol/l, the effect of the chemotactic peptide being maximal at 0.1-1 mumol/l. fMet-Leu-Phe-induced O2- formation was potentiated by platelet-activating factor, adenosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate and cytochalasin B and was inhibited by the activators of adenylyl cyclase, isoproterenol, prostaglandin E1 and histamine. 4 beta-Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, 1,2-dioctanoyl-sn-glycerol, gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane and arachidonic acid, which circumvent receptor stimulation, also activated O2- formation. Significant differences between NT and EHT subjects were not evident in respect of any of the parameters studied. Our data suggest that regulation of the neutrophil NADPH oxidase is not disturbed in EHT and that altered O2- formation does not represent a genetic marker for abnormalities in plasma-membrane signal transduction in EHT.