CO2 enhanced peroxidase activity of SOD1: the effects of pH

At pH 7.4, CO2, rather than HCO3−, markedly enhances the oxidation of diverse substrates by SOD1 plus H2O2. Since the concentration of CO2 would fall with rising pH in HCO3− buffers, it was of interest to explore the effects of pH on the peroxidase activity of SOD1 in the presence and in the absence of HCO3−. The rate of NADPH peroxidation in the HCO3− buffer was minimally affected by pH in the range of 8–10.5; in a pyrophosphate buffer, the rate increased markedly, such that at pH 10.5 the rates in the two buffers were nearly identical. Similar results were obtained when urate was used as the peroxidizeable substrate. These results are explicable on the basis of an increase in the rate with pH due to the ionization of H2O2 to the effective HO2− coupled with a decrease in [CO2] due to the ionizations of H2CO3, which displaces the hydration equilibrium to the right. These two opposing effects counteract in the HCO3−-buffered reaction mixtures; in the pyrophosphate buffer, only the effect of increasing [HO2−] was seen.