The mitochondria-targeted sulfide delivery molecule attenuates drugs-induced oxidative gastropathy. Involvement of heme oxygenase pathway

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) signaling and H2S-prodrugs maintain redox balance in gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Predominant effect of any H2S-donor is mitochondrial. Non-targeted H2S-moieties were shown to decrease the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)-induced gastrotoxicity but in high doses. However, direct, controlled delivery of H2S to gastric mucosal mitochondria as a molecular target improving NSAIDs-pharmacology remains overlooked. Thus, we treated Wistar rats, i.g. with vehicle, mitochondria-targeted H2S-releasing AP39 (0.004–0.5 mg/kg), AP219 (0.02 mg/kg) as structural control without H2S-releasing ability, or AP39 + SnPP (10 mg/kg) as a heme oxygenase (HMOX) inhibitor. Next, animals were administered i.g. with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, 125 mg/kg) as NSAIDs representative or comparatively with 75% ethanol to induce translational hemorrhagic or necrotic gastric lesions, that were assessed micro-/macroscopically. Activity of mitochondrial complex IV/V, and DNA oxidation were assessed biochemically. Gastric mucosal/serum content of IL-1β, IL-10, TNF-α, TGF-β1/2, ARG1, GST-α, or phosphorylation of mTOR1, NF-κB, ERK, Akt, JNK, STAT3/5 were evaluated by microbeads-fluorescent xMAP®-assay; gastric mucosal mRNA level of HMOX-1/2, COX-1/2, SOD-1/2 by real-time PCR. AP39 (but not AP219) dose-dependently (0.02 and 0.1 mg/kg) diminished NSAID- (and ethanol)-induced gastric lesions and DNA oxidation, restoring mitochondrial complexes activity, ARG1, GST-α protein levels and increasing HMOX-1 and SOD-2 expression. AP39 decreased proteins levels or phosphorylation of gastric mucosal inflammation/oxidation-sensitive markers and restored mTOR1 phosphorylation. Pharmacological inhibition of HMOX-1 attenuated AP39-gastroprotection. We showed that mitochondria-targeted H2S released from very low i.g. doses of AP39 improved gastric mucosal capacity to cope with NSAIDs-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and redox imbalance, mechanistically requiring the activity of HMOX-1.