Antioxidative effects of molybdenum and its association with reduced prevalence of hyperuricemia in the adult population

PLoS One. 2024 Aug 1;19(8):e0306025. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306025. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

The relationship between molybdenum and kidney-related disease outcomes, including hyperuricemia, is not well investigated. This study aims to determine whether molybdenum and its antioxidative property are associated with systemic inflammation and kidney-related disease parameters including hyperuricemia. Urinary molybdenum's epidemiological relationship to hyperuricemia and kidney-disease related outcomes was evaluated in 15,370 adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected between 1999 and 2016. Individuals' urinary molybdenum levels were corrected to their urinary creatinine concentrations. The association between urinary molybdenum-to-creatinine ratio and kidney-disease related outcomes were assessed by multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses, adjusting for covariates including age, sex, ethnicity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, body mass index, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Antimony and tungsten were used as control trace metals. Experimentally, HK-2 cell was used to assess molybdenum's antioxidative properties. HK-2 cells were challenged with H2O2-induced oxidative stress. Oxidative stress was measured using a fluorescent microplate assay for reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidation levels were assessed by measuring the expression of manganese superoxide dismutase. In the adult NHANES population, urinary molybdenum-to-creatinine ratio was significantly associated with decreased serum uric acid (β, -0.119; 95% CI, -0.148 to -0.090) concentrations, and decreased prevalence of hyperuricemia (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.64-0.83) and gout (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.52-0.94). Higher urinary molybdenum levels were associated with lower levels of systemic oxidative stress (gamma-glutamyltransferase levels; β, -0.052; 95% CI, -0.067 to -0.037) and inflammation (C-reactive protein levels; β, -0.184; 95% CI, -0.220 to -0.148). In HK-2 cells under H2O2-induced oxidative stress, molybdenum upregulated manganese superoxide dismutase expression and decreased oxidative stress. Urinary molybdenum levels are associated with decreased prevalence of hyperuricemia and gout in adult population. Molybdenum's antioxidative properties might have acted as an important mechanism for the reduction of systemic inflammation, ROS, and uric acid levels.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antioxidants* / metabolism
  • Cell Line
  • Creatinine / blood
  • Creatinine / urine
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hyperuricemia* / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Molybdenum* / urine
  • Nutrition Surveys
  • Oxidative Stress* / drug effects
  • Prevalence
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Uric Acid / blood
  • Uric Acid / urine

Substances

  • Molybdenum
  • Antioxidants
  • Creatinine
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Uric Acid

Grants and funding

Jeonghwan Lee received funding of this study. This work was supported by a multidisciplinary research grant-in-aid from the Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul National University (SMG-SNU) Boramae Medical Center (04-2023-0040). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.