Evidence for production of oxidizing radicals by the particulate O-2-forming system from human neutrophils.

The particulate O-2-forming system from human neutrophils was found to oxidize methional and 2-keto-4-methylthiobutyric acid (KMB) to ethylene, indicating the formation by this system of strongly oxidizing radicals. Conforming this interpretation was the observation that ethylene production was inhibited by the radical scavengers benzoate, ethanol, and mannitol. Ethylene production was also sharply reduced by superoxide dismutase, implicatin O-2 as a precursor of oxidizing radicals. In our system catalase only partially inhibited ethylene generation from either methional or KMB, suggesting that oxidizing radicals are generated at least in part by the reacton of O-2 with compounds other than H2O2. We propose that in neutrophils oxidizing radicals are formed in a reaction between O-2 and a peroxide according to the following equation: O-2 + ROOH leads to RO . + OH- + O2, in which ROOH may be hydrogen peroxide, an alkyl peroxide, or an acyl peroxide (i.e., a peroxy acid).