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Sonstige beteiligte Institutionen
Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) is the best established receptor for nitric oxide (NO) and regulates a great number of important physiological functions. Surprisingly, despite the wellappreciated roles of this enzyme in regulation of vascular tone, smooth muscle cell proliferation, platelet aggregation, renal sodium secretion, synaptic plasticity, and other functions, extremely little is known about the regulation of sGC activity and protein levels. To date, the only well-proven physiologically relevant sGC regulator is NO. In the present study, some additional possibilities for sGC regulation were shown. Firstly, we evaluated the ability of different NO donors to stimulate sGC. Significant differences in the sGC stimulation by SNP and DEA/NO were found. DEA/NO stimulated sGC much stronger than did SNP. Interestingly, no correlation between the sGC protein and maximal activity distribution was found in rat brain regions tested, suggesting the existence of some additional regulatory mechanisms for sGC. The failure of SNP to stimulate sGC maximally might be one of the reasons why the lack of correlation between the distribution of sGC activity and proteins in brain was not detected earlier. Prolonged exposure of endothelial cells to NO donors produced desensitization of the cGMP response. This desensitization cannot be explained by increased PDE activity, since PDE inhibitors were not able to prevent the NO donor-induced decrease of the maximal cGMP response in endothelial cells. The failure of SH-reducing agents to improve the cGMP response after its desensitization by NO suggests that a SH-independent mechanism mediates NO effects. Demonstration that the potency of the recently described activator of oxidized (heme-free) sGC, BAY58-2667, to stimulate sGC increases after prolonged exposure of the cells to an NO donor, DETA/NO, suggests that oxidation of heme may be a reason for NOinduced desensitization of sGC and decrease in sGC protein level. Indeed, the well-known heme-oxidizing agent ODQ produces a dramatic decrease in sGC protein levels in endothelial cells and BAY58-2667 prevents this effect. Although the mechanism of sGC activation and stabilization by BAY58-2667 is unknown, this substance is an interesting candidate to modulate sGC under conditions where sGC heme iron is oxidized. Very little is known about regulation of sGC by intracellular localization or translocation between different intracellular compartments. In the present study, an increase in sGC sensitivity to NO under membrane association was demonstrated. Treatment of isolated lung with VEGF markedly increased sGC in membrane fractions of endothelial cells. Failure of VEGF to stimulate sGC membrane association in cultured endothelial cells allows us to propose a complex mechanism of regulation of sGC membrane association and/or a transient character of sGC membrane attachment. A very likely mechanism for the attachment of sGC to membranes is via sGCinteracting proteins. These proteins may participate also in other aspects of sGC regulation. The role of the recently described sGC interaction partner, Hsp90, was investigated. Shortterm treatment of endothelial cells with an Hsp90 inhibitor does not affect NO donor or calcium ionophore-stimulated cGMP accumulation in the cells. However, inhibition of Hsp90 results in a rapid and dramatic decrease in sGC protein levels in endothelial cells. These effects were unrelated to changes in sGC transcription, since inhibition of transcription had much slower effect on sGC protein levels. In contrast, inhibitors of proteasomes abolished the reduction in sGC protein levels produced by an Hsp90 inhibitor, suggesting involvement of proteolytic degradation of sGC proteins during inhibition of Hsp90. All these data together suggest that Hsp90 is required to maintain mature sGC proteins. In conclusion, in the present study it was demonstrated that multiple mechanisms are involved in the regulation of sGC activity and its sensitivity to NO. Oxidation of sGC heme by NO seems to be one of the mechanisms for negative regulation of sGC in the presence of high or prolonged stimulation with NO. Another possible means of regulating sGC sensitivity to NO is via the intracellular translocation of the enzyme. It has been also demonstrated here that attachment of sGC to the membrane fraction results in an apparent increase in the enzyme sensitivity to NO. Additionally, Hsp90 was required to maintain sGC protein in endothelial and other cell types. However, we could not find any acute affect of Hsp90 on sGC activity, as reported recently. All these findings demonstrate that the regulation of sGC activity and protein level is a much more complex process than had been assumed earlier.
Mechanisms of apoptosis modulation and their contribution to genomic instability in tumor cells
(2004)
The concept of programmed cell death has been increasingly considered from various aspects since early 1970’s. Primarily, knowledge of apoptosis referred to morphological changes in which chromatin is condensed and increasingly fragmented, revealed as small structure in the nucleus. The membrane shrinks and the cell becomes dense as can be seen by flow cytometry. Interestingly, similar modes of cell deletion were observed in nematodes indicating that apoptosis is a highly conserved machinery. Three Caeonorhabditis elegans gene products are found to have high homology with mammalian apoptotic genes: CED-9 inhibits apoptosis and is related to bcl-2; CED-3 and CED-4 promote apoptosis and are related to caspase 9 and APAF-1. Apoptosis is not accidental death, but a highly controlled and medically important molecular process. More general terms such as ‘physiological’ or ‘regulated’ cell death cover different morphologies and sequences. Programmed suicide of cells that were subjected to toxic exogenous and endogenous stimuli plays a key role in understanding cancer development and its treatment. Apoptosis involves sequences of events that may overlap and play contradictory or antagonistic roles in cell death. Generally, the ability to trigger apoptotic processes in cancer cells would benefit an organism by keeping homeostasis intact. Programmed cell death is a regularly present mechanism, for instance, in lymphocyte recruitment in the thymus where immature lymphocytes may recognize host antigens. Therefore, such lymphocytes become apoptotic and are removed by macrophages. Removal prevents possible autoimmune diseases. Unlike apoptosis, necrosis is a passive process of cell death recognizable by membrane morphological changes and accompanied by leakage of intracellular material into intercellular space that may cause inflammation in the organism. Signals that may initiate apoptosis are generally classified into two groups: signals that launch extrinsic apoptotic pathways starting with aggregation of death receptors and intrinsic apoptotic pathways starting with disruption of intracellular homeostasis such as the release of mitochondrial factors or DNA degradation. Early in the process, apoptotic signals may lead to a broad range of signaling mechanisms such as DNA repair and assessment of DNA damage (check points). Thus, failure in any of these steps can cause a defective apoptotic response that plays a decisive role in both tumorigenesis and drug resistance in tumor treatment. More distinctly, the capability of cancer cells to go into apoptosis prevents further neoplastic changes. Generally, the purpose of this study is to investigate the balance between formation of genomic damage and induction of apoptosis under genotoxic stress. After genotoxic insult there are different possibilities for the fate of a cell (Figure 1). The genomic integrity is analyzed at cellular checkpoints, usually leading to a delay in cell cycle progression if DNA was damaged. Mutations in genes such as p53 and p21 change the cellular response to genotoxic stress and may alter the balance between apoptosis and genomic damage. However, p53 is usually mutated or not expressed in 70% of human tumors. Alterations in p53 states that reflect distinct apoptotic response upon induction of DNA damage were examined. In this study, three cell lines with distinct p53 states were used: TK6 harboring wild-type p53, WTK1 with mutated p53 and NH32 with knocked out p53. In the present work we applied different approaches to investigate the correlation between DNA damage and apoptotic responsiveness in cancer cell lines with different p53 states or in hormone responsive cell lines with over expressed bcl-2 gene. We were focused on effects caused by temporary down regulation of the p53 and Bcl-2 activity in human lymphoblastoid cell lines. In addition, we investigated the impact of estradiol-induced proliferation on apoptosis and DNA damage in stably transfected cells with bcl-2gene.
The biotransformation of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane was investigated in rats and in in vitro systems. First, the metabolites were identified in vivo using GC/MS and 19F NMR analysis. The main metabolite was identified as trifluoroacetic acid, the minor metabolite as 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid and as a cleavage product, inorganic fluoride was found. As the in vitro system, liver microsomes from rat and human samples and rat liver homogenates were used. Trifluoroacetic acid and 3,3,3 trifluoropropionic acid were confirmed in vitro as metabolic intermediates, following biotransformation of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane by the cytochrome P-450-system. Studies, designed for clarifying the cardiotoxicity of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane were driven by the hypothesis that 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid is the toxic agent. This was based on the lethal toxicity, which was observed in previous in vivo experiments. In addition, the point of its structural similarity to toxic agents as for example monofluoroacetic acid or of possible metabolic intermediates like difluoroacrylic acid with known toxicity were considered to support this assumption. However, trifluoroacetic acid was neglected as the sought-after toxic agent because of its different toxic effects, known from literature. Investigations on the biotransformation of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid were performed and resulted in no metabolic activity and in poor elimination of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid in vivo. The histopathological effects on the heart, which were observed in the 90-day oral toxicity study of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane in rats, namely mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltrations and degenerated myocardial fibers, were not observed after a 28 day repeated exposure of up to 10 mg/kg b.w. of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid. However, a single high dose of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid lead to severe toxicological effects. The difference in the observed toxic effects after a single and repeated administration may be due to adaptive mechanisms in rats. The toxicological effects included clinical signs like ataxia, coma and cramps. The conditions of the rats suggested possible inhibition of the energy supply to the organism. Furthermore, the interference of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid in the functionality of the organism was investigated. Experiments were performed in vitro in rat liver and heart mitochondria to investigate effects on the mitochondrial ß-oxidation. However, the transformation of the substrate [U14C] palmitic acid in the ß oxidation pathway was not inhibited by 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid. In addition, no cytotoxicity of 3,3,3 trifluoropropionic acid was observed in the cell culture systems. The main effect after a single dose of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid was seen in clinical pathology and metabonomic analysis. The decrease in blood glucose is considered to have the most far-reaching consequences for the toxicity of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid. If considering this change as the primary effect after a single dose, secondary effects, for example, the above-mentioned clinical signs could be explained. In addition, the observed high level of ketone bodies might have been responsible for life-threatening possible ketoacidosis. In general, ketoacidosis occurs after an imbalance between glycolysis, lipolysis, TCA cycle activity and respiratory function. Based on the results, ß-oxidation of fatty acids was not affected, and due to the decrease in glucose levels and the high levels of acetyl CoA, glycolysis was considered not to be impaired. Increased amounts of acetyl CoA might be a result of insufficient activity of the TCA cycle. However, the inhibition of the TCA cycle can be based on the impairment of specific enzymes and/or on the involvement of messenger substrates like insulin. Supporting the first mentioned aspect are decreased levels of TCA cycle intermediates, like α-ketoglutarate or citrate, as seen in 1H-NMR spectra of urine. However, the second aspect would explain the drop in blood glucose with the impairment of glucose transporters or the impairment of the insulin balance. If a single dose of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid had stimulated the insulin release, glycolysis would be activated, and high amounts of acetyl CoA would be produced. In case of impaired use by the TCA cycle, levels of ketone bodies would be increased. Experiments were designed to characterize the direct effect of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid on rat insulinoma-derived INS-1 cells as possible increase in insulin release. Further investigations are necessary to answer in which step of the metabolic pathway 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid interferes or finally which specific enzyme is inhibited or activated by 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid, leading to the drop in blood glucose and finally in lethal toxicity.
The cyclic nucleotides cAMP and cGMP are two ubiquitous important second messengers, which regulate diverse physiological responses from vision and memory to blood pressure and thrombus formation. They act in cells via cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKA and GK), cyclic nucleotide-gated channels and Epac. Although the concept of cyclic nucleotide signalling is well developed based on classical biochemical studies, these techniques have not allowed to analyze cAMP and cGMP in live cells with high temporal and spatial resolution. In the present study fluorescence resonance energy transfer was used to develop a technique for visualization of cAMP and cGMP in live cells and in vitro by means of fluorescent biosensors. Ligand-induced conformational change in a single nucleotide-binding domain flanked with green fluorescent protein mutants was used for dynamic, highly sensitive measurements of cAMP and cGMP. Such biosensors retained binding properties and chemical specificity of unmodified domains, allowing to image cyclic nucleotides in a physiologically relevant range of concentrations. To develop cAMP-sensors, binding domains of PKA, Epac and cAMP-gated HCN-channel were used. cGMP-sensors were based on single domains of GK and phosphodiesterases (PDEs). Sensors based on Epac were used to analyze spatio-temporal dynamics of cAMP in neurons and macrophages, demonstrating that cAMP-gradients travel with a high speed (~ 40 μm/s) throughout the entire cytosol. To understand the mechanisms of cAMP-compartmentation, kinetics properties of phosphodi-esterase (PDE2) were, next, analyzed in aldosterone producing cells. PDE2 is able to rapidly hydrolyze extensive amounts of cAMP, so that the speed of cAMP-hydrolysis is much faster than that of its synthesis, which might serve as a basis of compartmentation. cAMP-sensors were also used to develop a clinically relevant diagnostic method for reliable detection of β1-adrenergic receptor autoantibodies in cardiac myopathy patients, which has allowed to significantly increase the sensitivity of previously developed diagnostic approaches. Conformational change in a single binding domain of GK and PDE was, next, used to create novel fluorescent biosensors for cGMP. These sensors demonstrated high spatio-temporal resolution and were applied to analyze rapid dynamics of cGMP production by soluble and particulate guanylyl cyclases as well as to image cGMP in mesangial cells. In summary, highly sensitive biosensors for cAMP and cGMP based on single cyclic nucleotide-binding domains have been developed and used in various biological and clinically relevant applications.
Azoles are important chemicals used as antifungal agents in agriculture and human medicine, but also as cytostatic drugs in tumour chemotherapy. Antifungal activities are based on inhibition of lanosterol-14α-demethylase (CYP51). CYP51 catalyses the oxidative removal of the methyl group # 32 of lanosterol to produce follicular fluid meiosis activating steroid (FF-MAS). For fungi the later resulting ergosterol is an essential compound of the cell membrane. Exposed fungi lack ergosterol, which leads to a collapse of the cell membrane. In mammals cholesterol, the downstream product of lanosterol-14α-demethylation necessary for the synthesis of bile acids, mineral corticoids, glucocorticoids and sex steroids, can be supplemented with food intake. However FF-MAS and the resulting T-MAS (testis meiosis activating steroids), the direct products of the CYP51 reaction, act as meiosis-activating steroids on ovaries and testes and are not supplemented with food intake. Inhibition of CYP51 in humans may therefore affect the endocrine system and is an unwanted side effect of azoles. Aromatase (CYP19) catalyses the demethylation of testosterone to estradiol and is inhibited by azoles. Reduction of estrogen levels by CYP19 inhibition is the working principle of cytostatic drugs used in breast cancer therapy but is considered an unwanted side effect for azoles used to treat fungal infections. A favourable fungicide or antifungal drug should be a strong inhibitor of fungal CYP51. In contrast human CYP51 and human CYP19 should not be inhibited by an azole fungicide or antifungal agent. The favourable cytostatic drug should show a high potency towards human CYP19. Neither human CYP51 nor fungal CYP51 should be inhibited by a cytostatic drug. The aim of this work was to assess: are fungicides and antifungal drugs strong inhibitors of fungal CYP51? In return do they not inhibit human CYP51 and human CYP19? Do cytostatic drugs strongly inhibit human CYP19? And in return do they not inhibit human CYP51 or fungal CYP51? Inhibitory potencies of 22 azole compounds used for the three purposes were tested in four inhibition assays: i) on commercially available human CYP19 utilising a fluorescent pseudo substrate dibenzylfluorescein (DBF) ii) on CYP19 utilising testosterone as substrate iii) on human CYP51 and iv) Candida albicans CYP51 utilising lanosterol as substrate. Product formation was measured by liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry utilising photospray ionisation (APPI). A functional human CYP51 was available from BD Gentest Cooperation. A functional enzyme complex comprising of the Candida albicans lanosterol-14α-demethylase and the Candida tropicalis oxidoreductase was expressed in the baculovirus system. When comparing inhibitory potencies on CYP19, human CYP51 and Candida albicans CYP51 a number of agents show desirable patterns of inhibition e.g. the two cytostatic drugs, or two antifungal agents used in human medicine, fluconazole and itraconazole, and a wide variety of the fungicides, e.g. cyproconazole and hexaconazole. Undesirable patterns of inhibition were exhibited by a number of compounds, e.g. prochloraz, bifonazole, ketoconazole and miconazole. Seven compounds show a more complex picture of inhibitory potencies though. To get a picture of residue levels of azoles in food in a model case an LC-ESI-MS/MS method was developed for the determination of azole compounds in wine. All residues were below the maximum residue levels set by authorities. To classify the inhibitory potencies on the different enzyme systems IC50 values obtained were compared to exposure levels measured in farmers, maximum plasma concentrations in humans reported after exposure to antifungal drugs and to acceptable daily intake levels set by authorities. Based on the findings presented, the following conclusions can be drawn. The risk for agricultural workers set by exposure to azole fungicides with respect to human CYP51 and CYP19 can be regarded as negligible when safety measures are adhered to. As a matter of principle however, the usage of bifonazole, miconazole and ketoconazole has to be viewed with caution in respect to the high level of inhibition of human CYP51 and/or CYP19. Under the assumption that the acceptable daily intake amounts set by authorities for azole compounds are not exceeded the residues do not pose a threat to consumer safety judged by our findings. Inhibition of CYP19 with the consequence of a reduction of estradiol levels has to be regarded as a possible disrupting effect of the hormone balance. The relevance of FF-MAS and T-MAS in the endocrine system however still has to be evaluated completely bringing with it the question of how much importance has to be attached to the inhibition of human CYP51.
Conjugation of reactive intermediates of drugs with proteins or DNA may result in toxic effects such as hepatotoxicity, agranulocytosis, allergies, tumors, etc. From 1975 to 1999, 2.9% of drugs were withdrawn from the market due to such severe adverse drug reactions. Thus, formation of chemically reactive intermediates is a widely discussed problem in drug development processes. Early detection of potentially toxic compounds is required for drug discovery and drug development. Conjugation of such electrophilic compounds with glutathione (GSH) is one of the most important detoxifying reactions in vivo. Processing of these GSH-conjugates ultimately leads to the formation of renally cleared mercapturic acids, which may also be oxidized to sulfoxides. Thus, mercapturic acids may be generated and detected in vitro and non-invasively in vivo in urine to assess the reactivity of a compound in early stages of drug development processes. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop and evaluate a HPLC-MS/MS screening method for simple and rapid detection and characterization of known and unknown mercapturic acids and application of the method to several different matrices. Based on the common constant neutral loss (CNL) of 129 Da of all mercapturic acids tested (in negative ion mode), a CNL survey scan was performed using a linear ion trap instrument and was combined with two enhanced product ion (EPI) scans with different collision energies to characterize the detected signals. The CNL resulted from the cleavage between the sulfur and the carbon atom in the N-acetyl-L-cysteine moiety. After optimization of the experimental parameters, the detection limits of the reference substances in rat urine ranged from 0.3 to 15.5 pmol on column (i.e. 20 ng/ml to 800 ng/ml). For in vitro evaluation of the method, the model compounds acetaminophen, diclofenac, bifonazole, clozapine, troglitazone, carbamazepine, and bisphenol A were screened for formation of reactive intermediates and, hence, detection of the corresponding mercapturic acids. To determine possible species- and tissue-specific toxicities, the model compounds were incubated with stimulated neutrophils and with liver microsomes from rats and humans. Species-specific differences were observed in incubations of acetaminophen and diclofenac with rat and human hepatic microsomes. Tissue-specific differences in biotransformation of the model compounds in incubations with human neutrophils and human liver microsomes were observed for diclofenac, carbamazepine, clozapine, and bifonazole. The developed HPLC-MS/MS method was also evaluated in vivo by analysis of rat and human urine. Drug-related mercapturic acids were detected in urine of rats orally treated with acetaminophen (20 mg/kg and 640 mg/kg b.w.) or diclofenac (10 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg b.w.). Human urine samples were analyzed before and after oral administration of a clinically used dose of 500 mg and 50 mg of acetaminophen. Besides detection of the mercapturic acid of N-acetylbenzoquinoneimine (AAP-MA), a second mercapturic acid with m/z 327 occurred dose-dependently in rat and human urine samples after administration of acetaminophen. Further investigations on identification of this metabolite using authentic compounds and comparing their MS/MS mass spectra demonstrated oxidation of AAP-MA to stereoisomeric sulfoxides in vivo. For diclofenac, a novel mercapturic acid with m/z 441 was detected in rat urine samples that was identical to a metabolite obtained in incubations with human neutrophils before. The in vivo formation of this diclofenac metabolite is described here for the first time. In addition, three endogenously formed mercapturic acids were detected and identified. In conclusion, the results of the in vitro and in vivo evaluation demonstrate the advantages of the rapid and generic HPLC-MS/MS screening method for the detection of mercapturic acids, that can be obtained with a minimum of sample preparation and a high throughput in diverse matrices.
Clonidine is an agonist at alpha2-adrenergic receptors that mediate a wide variety of the physiological responses to epinephrine and norepinephrine, such as inhibition of neurotransmitter release as well as sedation and analgesia. As with other therapeutically used alpha2-agonists such as moxonidine and rilmenidine, clonidine possesses an imidazoline structure and is believed to lower blood pressure not only via central and peripheral alpha2-receptors, but perhaps even more so by acting on central “imidazoline I1 receptors” in the brain stem. The molecular structure of these hypothetical “imidazoline I1 receptors” has not yet been identified. In order to test whether ligands with an imidazoline structure elicit pharmacological effects via alpha2-adrenergic receptors or via “imidazoline receptors”, mice were generated with a targeted deletion of all three alpha2-adrenergic receptor subtypes (alpha2ABC-KO). These alpha2ABC-KO mice were an ideal model in which to examine the pharmacological effects of the centrally acting antihypertensives clonidine, moxonidine and rilmenidine in the absence of alpha2-adrenergic receptors. As expected, sedative and analgesic actions of clonidine were completely absent in alpha2ABC-KO mice, confirming the sole role of alpha2-receptors in these properties of clonidine. Clonidine significantly lowered heart rate in anesthetized alpha2ABC-KO and wild-type mice by up to 150 beats/min. A similar bradycardic effect of clonidine was observed in isolated spontaneously beating right atria from alpha2ABC-KO mice. After treatment with the specific If inhibitor ZD 7288, clonidine was no longer able to lower spontaneous beating frequency, suggesting a common site of action. Furthermore, in HEK293 cells stably transfected with HCN2 and HCN4, it could be shown that clonidine inhibits the If current via blockade of pacemaker channels with similar affinity as in isolated alpha2ABC-KO and wild-type atria. This inhibition was demonstrated again in isolated sinoatrial node (SAN) cells from alpha2ABC-KO mice and was identical in potency and efficacy to clonidine inhibition observed in isolated wild-type SAN cells, confirming that inhibition of atrial HCN channels constitutes the alpha2-independent bradycardic action of clonidine. Direct inhibition of cardiac HCN pacemaker channels contributes to the bradycardic effects of clonidine in gene-targeted mice. Thus clonidine-like drugs represent novel structures for future HCN channel inhibitors.
In patients suffering from end-stage renal disease who are treated by hemodialysis genomic damage as well as cancer incidence is elevated. One possible cause for the increased genomic damage could be the accumulation of genotoxic substances in the blood of patients. Two possible sources for those toxins have to be considered. The first possibility is that substances from dialysers, the blood tubing system or even contaminated dialysis solutions may leach into the blood of the patients during dialysis. Secondly, the loss of renal filtration leads to an accumulation of substances which are normally excreted by the kidney. If those substances possess toxic potential, they are called uremic toxins. Several of these uremic toxins are potentially genotoxic. Within this thesis several exemplary uremic toxins have been tested for genotoxic effects (homocysteine, homocysteine-thiolactone,leptine, advanced glycated end-products). Additionally, it was analysed whether substances are leaching from dialysers or blood tubing and whether they cause effects in in vitrotoxicity testing. The focus of chemical analytisis was on bisphenol A (BPA), the main component of plastics used in dialysers and dialyser membranes.
In the course of this study, several endogenous compounds and model substances were used to mimic the conditions in patients suffering from hypertension. As endogenous compounds, angiotensin II and aldosterone were chosen. As model substances, 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (NQO), hydrogen peroxide and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) were selected. Benfotiamine as well as α-tocopherol proved in the course of the experiments to be able to prevent angiotensin II-induced formation of oxidative DNA strand breaks and micronuclei. This could be due to a prior inhibition of the release of reactive oxygen species and is in contrast to results which were achieved using thiamine. Furthermore, experiments in which cells were pre-incubated with benfotiamine followed by incubation with NQO showed that benfotiamine was not able to prevent the induction of oxidative stress. The hypothesis that benfotiamine has, like α-tocopherol, direct antioxidative capacity was fortified by measurements in cell free systems. In brief, a new working mechanism for benfotiamine in addition to the ones already known could be provided. In the second part of the study, angiotensin II was shown to be dose-dependently genotoxic. This effect is mediated via the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) which. Further experiments were extended from in vitro settings to the isolated perfused kidney. Here it could be shown that angiotensin II caused vasoconstriction and DNA strand breaks. Co-perfusion of kidneys with angiotensin II and candesartan prevented vasoconstriction and formation of strand breaks. DNA strand break formation due to mechanical stress or hypoxia could be ruled out after additional experiments with the thromboxane mimetic U 46619. Detailed investigation of the DNA damage in vitro revealed that angiotensin II induces single strand breaks, double strand breaks and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-oxodG)-adducts as well as abasic sites. Investigations of the effects of aldosterone-treatment in kidney cells showed an increase of oxidative stress, DNA strand breaks and micronuclei which could be prevented by the steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist eplerenone. Additional experiments with the non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (S)-BR-4628 revealed that this substance was also able to prevent oxidative stress and genomic damage and proved to be more potent than eplerenone. In vivo, hyperaldosteronism was imitated in rats by aid of the deoxycorticosteroneacetate (DOCA) salt model. After this treatment, levels of DNA strand breaks and chromosomal aberrations in the kidney could be observed. Furthermore, an increase in the release of ROS could be measured. Treatment of these animals with spironolactone , BR-4628 and enalaprile revealed that all antagonists were effective BR-4628 was the most potent drug. Finally, rosuvastatin was investigated. In HL-60 cells phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate caused oxidative stress. Rosuvastatin was able to prevent the release of ROS and subsequent oxidative DNA damage when co-incubated with PMA. Furthermore, not only an inhibition of PMA-induced oxidative stress but also inhibition of the unspecific release of ROS induced by hydrogen peroxide was observable. Addition of farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP), geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), and mevalonate, intermediates of the cholesterol pathway, caused only a marginal increase of oxidative stress in cells treated simultaneously with PMA and rosuvastatin, thus indicating the effect of rosuvastatin to be HMG-CoA-reductase-independent. Investigation of the gene expression of subunits of NAD(P)H oxidase revealed a down-regulation of p67phox following rosuvastatin-treatment. Furthermore, it could be shown that rosuvastatin treatment alone or in combination with PMA increased total glutathione levels probably due to an induction of the gene expression and enzyme activity of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS).