Shriners Hospitals for Children - Galveston

About: Shriners Hospitals for Children - Galveston is a healthcare organization based out in Galveston, Texas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Burn injury & Lean body mass. The organization has 249 authors who have published 420 publications receiving 15311 citations.

Upregulation and Mitochondrial Sequestration of Hemoglobin Occur in Circulating Leukocytes during Critical Illness, Conferring a Cytoprotective Phenotype

Abstract: The classical role of hemoglobin in the erythrocytes is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues via the circulation However, hemoglobin also acts as a redox regulator and as a scavenger of the gaseous mediators nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) Here we show that upregulation of hemoglobin (α, β and δ variants of globin proteins) occurs in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in critical illness (patients with severe third-degree burn injury and patients with sepsis) The increase in intracellular hemoglobin concentration is a result of a combination of enhanced protein expression and uptake from the extracellular space via a CD163-dependent mechanism Intracellular hemoglobin preferentially localizes to the mitochondria, where it interacts with complex I and, on the one hand, increases mitochondrial respiratory rate and mitochondrial membrane potential, and on the other hand, protects from H2O2-induced cytotoxicity and mitochondrial DNA damage Both burn injury and sepsis were associated with increased plasma levels of H2S Incubation of mononuclear cells with H2S induced hemoglobin mRNA upregulation in PBMCs in vitro Intracellular hemoglobin upregulation conferred a protective effect against cell dysfunction elicited by H2S Hemoglobin uptake also was associated with a protection from, and induced the upregulation of, HIF-1α and Nrf2 mRNA In conclusion, PBMCs in critical illness upregulate their intracellular hemoglobin levels by a combination of active synthesis and uptake from the extracellular medium We propose that this process serves as a defense mechanism protecting the cell against cytotoxic concentrations of H2S and other gaseous transmitters, oxidants and free radicals produced in critically ill patients

Hypermetabolism and hypercatabolism of skeletal muscle accompany mitochondrial stress following severe burn trauma

Abstract: Burn trauma results in prolonged hypermetabolism and skeletal muscle wasting. How hypermetabolism contributes to muscle wasting in burn patients remains unknown. We hypothesized that oxidative stre...

Beneficial pulmonary effects of a metalloporphyrinic peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst in burn and smoke inhalation injury

Abstract: During acute lung injury, nitric oxide (NO) exerts cytotoxic effects by reacting with superoxide radicals, yielding the reactive nitrogen species peroxynitrite (ONOO−). ONOO− exerts cytotoxic effec...