Selective nitros(yl)ation induced in vivo by a nitric oxide-donating cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor: a NObonomic analysis

Nitric oxide (NO) enhances anti-inflammatory drug action. Through a metabonomics approach termed “NObonomics,” the effects of a prototypic NO donor (organic nitrate)-cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor hybrid (NO-coxib), NMI-1093, on the NO metabolite status of the circulation and major organs have been profiled in vivo in the rat. An oral anti-inflammatory NMI-1093 bolus elicited acute tissue-, time-, and dose-dependent changes in oxidative and nitroso/nitrosyl NO metabolites. Gastric N-nitrosation and hepatic S-nitrosation and heme nitrosylation emerged as sensitive indices of this NO-coxibʹs metabolism. Acute NMI-1093-induced nitros(yl)ation correlated positively as a function of nitrate plus nitrite formation across all organs examined, suggesting a unifying in vivo mechanism consequent to NMI-1093 biotransformation that links oxidative and nitros(yl)ative routes of NO chemical biology and thereby may support downstream NO signaling. NMI-1093 depressed erythrocyte nitros(yl)ation, likely by inhibiting cellular carbonic anhydrase and shifting the intracellular balance between nitrogen oxides and carbonates. Glutathione-S-transferase or cytochrome P450 inhibitors also attenuated NMI-1093ʹs NO metabolism in a compartment-selective fashion. Although not itself a NO donor, the des-nitro coxib analog of NMI-1093 influenced basal NO metabolite profiles, implicating a cyclooxygenase–NO synthase interaction in physiological NO regulation. By detailing the global NO metrics of a unique coxib bearing a popular NO-donor pharmacophore (i.e., a nitrate moiety) and defining some critical mechanistic determinants, this study demonstrates how NObonomics can serve as valuable tool in helping elucidate NO systems biology and the effect of NO-donor and non-NO-donating therapeutics thereon.