Antioxidative properties of pig vesical mucosa: a comparison with gastric and intestinal mucosa.

The antioxidative properties of pig urinary bladder mucosa were compared with those of gastric and intestinal mucosa using nitroxide radicals. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method was used to monitor the metabolic processes of nitroxides in mucosae. The reduction of nitroxides was measured on intact luminal surfaces of gastric, intestinal, and urinary bladder mucosa, as well as in homogenates of mucosa surface layer. Furthermore, N-ethylmaleimide and ascorbate oxidase have been used to characterize the reducing agents in urinary bladder mucosa homogenates. The nitroxide concentration decrease on intact mucosa of the urinary bladder was significantly different from those of the gastric and the intestinal mucosa. The concentration decrease was the largest for intestinal mucosa and the smallest for bladder mucosa. On the other hand, homogenates exhibit the largest nitroxide reduction rates for the bladder mucosa and the smallest for the gastric mucosa. In the bladder surface layer homogenates ascorbate and thiol-containing reducing agents were found and their coupled action in the nitroxide reduction process was established. The mucosa of urinary bladder is protected against nitroxide free radicals by a relatively low permeability and very active endogenous reducing agents. The gastric and intestinal mucosa are more permeable and/or have greater antioxidant activity on their surface. The reduction of nitroxides in the urinary bladder mucosa occurs via the ascorbate-thiol coupled reducing system.