Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by microbial ligands or tissue damage requires intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We present evidence that macrophage secretion of IL1β upon stimulation with ATP, crystals or LPS is mediated by a rapid increase in the activity of xanthine oxidase (XO), the oxidized form of xanthine dehydrogenase, resulting in the formation of uric aci...

Emerging evidence supports the importance of nitroso-redox balance in the cardiovascular system. Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is a major oxidative enzyme and increased XOR activity, leading to both increased production of reactive oxygen species and uric acid, is implicated in heart failure. Within the heart, XOR activity stimulates cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, apoptosis, and impairs matrix stru...

Clostridial and spinach ferredoxins, reduced enzymatically by the action of ferredoxin-TPN+ oxidoreductase, have been shown to carry out the univalent reduction of oxygen. The superoxide radicals, so generated, were detected by their ability to cause the oxidation of epinephrine to adrenochrome. Superoxide dismutase prevented the production of adrenochrome in these reaction mixtures, while havi...

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR), a complex flavoprotein, catalyzes the metabolic reactions leading from hypoxanthine to xanthine and from xanthine to urate, and both reactions take place at the molybdenum cofactor. The enzyme is a target of drugs for therapy of gout or hyperuricemia. We review the chemical nature and reaction mechanisms of the molybdenum cofactor of XOR, focusing on molybdenum-de...

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) catalyzes the conversion of hypoxanthine to xanthine and xanthine to uric acid with concomitant reduction of either NAD+ or O(2). The enzyme is a target of drugs to treat hyperuricemia, gout and reactive oxygen-related diseases. Human diseases associated with genetically determined dysfunction of XOR are termed xanthinuria, because of the excretion of xanthine in u...