scholarly journals Assessing mitochondrial dysfunction in cells

2011 ◽  
Vol 435 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin D. Brand ◽  
David G. Nicholls

Assessing mitochondrial dysfunction requires definition of the dysfunction to be investigated. Usually, it is the ability of the mitochondria to make ATP appropriately in response to energy demands. Where other functions are of interest, tailored solutions are required. Dysfunction can be assessed in isolated mitochondria, in cells or in vivo, with different balances between precise experimental control and physiological relevance. There are many methods to measure mitochondrial function and dysfunction in these systems. Generally, measurements of fluxes give more information about the ability to make ATP than do measurements of intermediates and potentials. For isolated mitochondria, the best assay is mitochondrial respiratory control: the increase in respiration rate in response to ADP. For intact cells, the best assay is the equivalent measurement of cell respiratory control, which reports the rate of ATP production, the proton leak rate, the coupling efficiency, the maximum respiratory rate, the respiratory control ratio and the spare respiratory capacity. Measurements of membrane potential provide useful additional information. Measurement of both respiration and potential during appropriate titrations enables the identification of the primary sites of effectors and the distribution of control, allowing deeper quantitative analyses. Many other measurements in current use can be more problematic, as discussed in the present review.

2004 ◽  
Vol 380 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eveline HUTTER ◽  
Kathrin RENNER ◽  
Gerald PFISTER ◽  
Petra STÖCKL ◽  
Pidder JANSEN-DÜRR ◽  
...  

Limitation of lifespan in replicative senescence is related to oxidative stress, which is probably both the cause and consequence of impaired mitochondrial respiratory function. The respiration of senescent human diploid fibroblasts was analysed by highresolution respirometry. To rule out cell-cycle effects, proliferating and growth-arrested young fibroblasts were used as controls. Uncoupled respiration, as normalized to citrate synthase activity, remained unchanged, reflecting a constant capacity of the respiratory chain. Oligomycin-inhibited respiration, however, was significantly increased in mitochondria of senescent cells, indicating a lower coupling of electron transport with phosphorylation. In contrast, growth-arrested young fibroblasts exhibited a higher coupling state compared with proliferating controls. In intact cells, partial uncoupling may lead to either decreased oxidative ATP production or a compensatory increase in routine respiration. To distinguish between these alternatives, we subtracted oligomycin-inhibited respiration from routine respiration, which allowed us to determine the part of respiratory activity coupled with ATP production. Despite substantial differences in the respiratory control ratio, ranging from 4 to 11 in the different experimental groups, a fixed proportion of respiratory capacity was maintained for coupled oxidative phosphorylation in all the experimental groups. This finding indicates that the senescent cells fully compensate for increased proton leakage by enhanced electron-transport activity in the routine state. These results provide a new insight into age-associated defects in mitochondrial function and compensatory mechanisms in intact cells.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake J Wen ◽  
◽  
◽  

Introduction: Our previous results in vivo indicated PDE5-cGMP-PKG was involved in burn-induced heart dysfunction and PDE5A inhibitor restored the dysfunction. It’s unknown if circulating factors after burn would injure cardiomyocytes. Hypothesis: Circulating factors released after burn induce cardiomyopathy. Methods: Human cardiomyocytes (AC16) were treated with sham-serum, burn-serum (24 hpb-serum) and burn/sildenafil-serum (24 hpb/SIL). We performed cut-edged biochemistry technologies and Illumina RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in this study. GraphPad Prism 8.4.2 was used for statistics. Results: We found a significant decrease of cGMP level and an increase of cTN1 in 24 hpb-serum group. Treatment with the PDE5A inhibitor Sildenafil completely reversed this change similar to our in vivo work. To understand what bioactive molecules would be involved in the alterations by burn injury, human cardiomyocytes (Ac16) were employed to test the cardiomyocyte response to burn-induced circulating factors. We observed that 24 hpb-serum significantly 1) decreased cell viability and cell proliferation; as well as 2) increased cell cytotoxicity, cell apoptosis and cell ROS production. We also found 24 hpb-serum resulted in cell mitochondrial dysfunction by decreasing ATP production and mitochondrial membrane integrity/potential and increasing mitochondrial ROS. Seahorse and O2K approaches confirmed 24 hpb-serum-induced cardiomyocyte mitochondrial dysfunction as evidenced by decreases of mitochondrial basal respiration, proton leak, ATP production, and maximal respiration. 24 hpb/SIL serum rescued 24 hpb serum-induced Ac 16 cell response, at least partially. Advanced bioinformatic analyses identified 1415 upregulated genes and 1091 downregulated genes in 24 hpb-serum group and 776 upregulated genes and 113 downregulated genes restored in 24 hpb/SIL-serum group. We also analyzed and validated the differentially expressed genes. Conclusions: Our study not only confirmed burn induced heart dysfunction, but also provided evidence for understanding the pathogenic mechanism of circulating factors released after burn injury and preliminary genomic evidence for the mechanism for cardiomyopathy after burn injury.


2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (5) ◽  
pp. R1259-R1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Drew ◽  
Christiaan Leeuwenburgh

The production of ATP is vital for muscle contraction, chemiosmotic homeostasis, and normal cellular function. Many studies have measured ATP content or qualitative changes in ATP production, but few have quantified ATP production in vivo in isolated mitochondria. Because of the importance of understanding the energy capacity of mitochondria in biology, physiology, cellular dysfunction, and ultimately, disease pathologies and normal aging, we modified a commercially available bioluminescent ATP determination assay for quantitatively measuring ATP content and rate of ATP production in isolated mitochondria. The bioluminescence assay is based on the reaction of ATP with recombinant firefly luciferase and its substrate luciferin. The stabilities of the reaction mixture as well as relevant ATP standards were quantified. The luminescent signals of the reaction mixture and a 0.5 μM ATP standard decreased linearly at rates of 2.16 and 1.39% decay/min, respectively. For a 25 μM ATP standard, the luminescent signal underwent a logarithmic decay, due to intrinsic deviations from the Beer-Lambert law. Moreover, to test the functionality of isolated mitochondria, they were incubated with 1 and 5 mM oligomycin, an inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation. The rate of ATP production in the mitochondria declined by 34 and 83%, respectively. Due to the sensitivity and stability of the assay and methodology, we were able to quantitatively measure in vivo the effects of age and caloric restriction on the ATP content and production in isolated mitochondria from the brain and liver of young and old Fischer-344 rats. In both tissues, neither age nor caloric restriction had any significant effect on the ATP content or the rate of ATP production. This study introduces a highly sensitive, reproducible, and quick methodology for measuring ATP in isolated mitochondria.


Author(s):  
Taylor A. Mattox ◽  
Christine Psaltis ◽  
Katie Weihbrecht ◽  
Jacques Robidoux ◽  
Brita Kilburg‐Basnyat ◽  
...  

Background In sepsis, circulating cytokines and lipopolysaccharide elicit mitochondrial dysfunction and cardiomyopathy, a major cause of morbidity and mortality with this condition. Emerging research places the PHB1 (lipid raft protein prohibitin‐1) at the nexus of inflammation, metabolism, and oxidative stress. PHB1 has also been reported in circulation, though its function in this compartment is completely unknown. Methods and Results Using a wide‐ranging approach across multiple in vitro and in vivo models, we interrogated the functional role of intracellular and circulating PHB1 in the heart during sepsis, and elucidated some of the mechanisms involved. Upon endotoxin challenge or sepsis induction in rodent models, PHB1 translocates from mitochondria to nucleus in cardiomyocytes and is secreted into the circulation from the liver in a manner dependent on nuclear factor (erythroid‐derived 2)‐like 2, a key transcriptional regulator of the antioxidant response. Overexpression or treatment with recombinant human PHB1 enhances the antioxidant/anti‐inflammatory response and protects HL‐1 cardiomyocytes from mitochondrial dysfunction and toxicity from cytokine stress. Importantly, administration of recombinant human PHB1 blunted inflammation and restored cardiac contractility and ATP production in mice following lipopolysaccharide challenge. This cardioprotective, anti‐inflammatory effect of recombinant human PHB1 was determined to be independent of nuclear factor (erythroid‐derived 2)‐like 2, but partially dependent on PI3K/AKT  signaling in the heart. Conclusions These findings reveal a previously unknown cardioprotective effect of PHB1 during sepsis, and illustrate a pro‐survival, protective role for PHB1 in the circulation. Exploitation of circulating PHB1 as a biomarker and/or therapeutic could have widespread benefit in the clinical management of sepsis and other severe inflammatory disorders.


1984 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
A C Borthwick ◽  
W H Holms ◽  
H G Nimmo

The isocitrate dehydrogenase of Escherichia coli ML308 can be reversibly activated by addition of pyruvate to cells growing on acetate [Bennett & Holms (1975) J. Gen. Microbiol. 87, 37-51]. By using cells pulse-labelled with [32P]Pi we showed that the activation and inactivation of the enzyme in these conditions correlate with its dephosphorylation and rephosphorylation respectively. Incubation of cell extracts prepared during an activation/inactivation cycle with purified isocitrate dehydrogenase phosphatase confirmed that the pyruvate-induced activation of the dehydrogenase goes essentially to completion. The results show that the reversible changes in the activity of the dehydrogenase in cells grown on acetate are solely due to phosphorylation/dephosphorylation. Inactive 32P-labelled isocitrate dehydrogenase was isolated from cells incubated with [32P]Pi in the presence of acetate. Both this material and purified enzyme phosphorylated in vitro were digested with chymotrypsin, and the phosphopeptides were isolated and analysed. Only one phosphopeptide was observed in each case; the results show that the residue phosphorylated in vivo is identical with that phosphorylated by purified isocitrate dehydrogenase kinase in vitro.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 7346
Author(s):  
Fadi H. J. Ramadan ◽  
Aliz Szabo ◽  
Dominika Kovacs ◽  
Aniko Takatsy ◽  
Rita Bognar ◽  
...  

Previously, we showed that desethylamiodarone (DEA), a major metabolite of the widely used antiarrhythmic drug amiodarone, has direct mitochondrial effects. We hypothesized that these effects account for its observed cytotoxic properties and ability to limit in vivo metastasis. Accordingly, we examined DEA’s rapid (3–12 h) cytotoxicity and its early (3–6 h) effects on various mitochondrial processes in B16F10 melanoma cells. DEA did not affect cellular oxygen radical formation, as determined using two fluorescent dyes. However, it did decrease the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, as assessed by JC-1 dye and fluorescence microscopy. It also induced mitochondrial fragmentation, as visualized by confocal fluorescence microscopy. DEA decreased maximal respiration, ATP production, coupling efficiency, glycolysis, and non-mitochondrial oxygen consumption measured by a Seahorse cellular energy metabolism analyzer. In addition, it induced a cyclosporine A–independent mitochondrial permeability transition, as determined by Co2+-mediated calcein fluorescence quenching measured using a high-content imaging system. DEA also caused outer mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, as assessed by the immunoblot analysis of cytochrome C, apoptosis inducing factor, Akt, phospho-Akt, Bad, and phospho-Bad. All of these data supported our initial hypothesis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (4) ◽  
pp. F520-F531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Su ◽  
Asish-Roopchand Dhoopun ◽  
Yanggang Yuan ◽  
Songming Huang ◽  
Chunhua Zhu ◽  
...  

We previously showed that mitochondrial dysfunction (MtD) is involved in an aldosterone (Aldo)-induced podocyte injury. Here, the potential role of MtD in the initiation of podocyte damage was investigated. We detected the dynamic changes of urinary protein, urinary F2-isoprostane and renal malondialdehyde levels, kidney ultrastructure morphology, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number, mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and nephrin and podocin expressions in Aldo-infused mice. Aldo infusion first induced renal oxidative stress, as evidenced by increased levels of urinary F2-isoprostane and renal malondialdehyde, and MtD, as demonstrated by reduced mtDNA, ΔΨm, and ATP production. Later, at 5 days after Aldo infusion, proteinuria and podocyte injury began to appear. In cultured podocytes, Aldo or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced MtD after 2–8 h of treatment, whereas the podocyte damage, as shown by decreased nephrin and podocin expressions, occurred later after 12 h of treatment. Thus Aldo treatment both in vitro and in vivo indicated that MtD occurred before podocyte damage. Additionally, MtDNA depletion by ethidium bromide or mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) RNAi induced MtD, further promoting podocyte damage. TFAM expression was found to be reduced in Aldo-infused mice and Aldo-treated podocytes. Adenoviral vector-mediated overexpression of TFAM prevented Aldo-induced MtD and protected against podocyte injury. Together, these findings support MtD as an early event in podocyte injury, and manipulation of TFAM may be a novel strategy for treatment of glomerular diseases such as podocytopathy.


1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Dreyfuss ◽  
S A Adam ◽  
Y D Choi

Exposure of intact cells to UV light brings about cross-linking of polyadenylated mRNA to a set of cytoplasmic proteins which are in direct contact with the mRNA in vivo. Substantial amounts of an additional protein of molecular weight 38,000 (38K) become cross-linked to the mRNA when cells are treated with inhibitors of mRNA synthesis (actinomycin D, camptothecin, and 5,6-dichloro-1-beta-D-ribofuranosyl benzimidazole) or after infection with vesicular stomatitis virus. Cordycepin, which inhibits polyadenylation but not mRNA synthesis, has no such effect. Inhibitors of protein synthesis and of rRNA synthesis are also without effect on 38K cross-linking to mRNA. The onset of the effect of inhibitors of mRNA synthesis on the UV cross-linkable interaction between mRNA and 38K is rapid and reaches a maximal level in less than 60 min, and it is completely and rapidly reversible. In cells treated with actinomycin D, the amount of 38K which becomes cross-linked to mRNA is proportional to the extent of inhibition of mRNA synthesis. The association of 38K with mRNA during transcriptional arrest does not require protein synthesis because simultaneous treatment with the protein synthesis inhibitor emetine does not interfere with it. The effectors which promote the interaction of 38K with mRNA do not affect the proteins which are in contact with polyadenylated heterogeneous nuclear RNA and do not markedly affect protein synthesis in the cell. The 38K protein can be isolated with the polyribosomal polyadenylated fraction from which it was purified, and monoclonal antibodies against it were prepared. Immunofluorescence microscopy shows mostly cytoplasmic and some nuclear staining. These observations demonstrate that commonly used inhibitors of transcription affect the physical state of messenger ribonucleoproteins in vivo.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 946
Author(s):  
Cheng-Hsuan Tsai ◽  
Chien-Ting Pan ◽  
Yi-Yao Chang ◽  
Shih-Yuan Peng ◽  
Po-Chin Lee ◽  
...  

Aldosterone excess plays a major role in the progression of cardiac dysfunction and remodeling in clinical diseases such as primary aldosteronism and heart failure. However, the effect of aldosterone excess on cardiac mitochondria is unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of aldosterone excess on cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction and its mechanisms in vitro and in vivo. We used H9c2 cardiomyocytes to investigate the effect and mechanism of aldosterone excess on cardiac mitochondria, and further investigated them in an aldosterone-infused ICR mice model. The results of the cell study showed that aldosterone excess decreased mitochondrial DNA, COX IV and SOD2 protein expressions, and mitochondria ATP production. These effects were abolished or attenuated by treatment with a mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist and antioxidant. With regard to the signal transduction pathway, aldosterone suppressed cardiac mitochondria through an MR/MAPK/p38/reactive oxygen species pathway. In the mouse model, aldosterone infusion decreased the amount of cardiac mitochondrial DNA and COX IV protein, and the effects were also attenuated by treatment with an MR antagonist and antioxidant. In conclusion, aldosterone excess induced a decrease in mitochondria and mitochondrial dysfunction via MRs and oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 2072-2082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Yong Lu ◽  
Dong Yu ◽  
Dadong Zhang ◽  
Wei Hu

Background: Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated protein 1 (TRAP1), an essential mitochondrial chaperone is induced in rat hearts following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R), but its role in myocardial I/R injury is unclear. The present study examined the function of TRAP1 in cardiomyocyte hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in vitro and myocardial I/R injury in vivo. Methods: HL-1 cardiomyocytes transfected with TRAP1 or vector were subjected to simulated I/R (SI/R) in vitro. Cell death and mitochondrial function were assessed. Wild type (WT) and TRAP1 knockout (TRAP1 KO) mice were subjected to cardiac I/R in vivo. The infarct size and myocardial apoptosis were determined. WT and TRAP1 KO cardiomyocytes were subjected to SI/R in vitro. Mitochondrial function was assessed. Results: TRAP1 overexpression protects HL-1 cardiomyocytes from SI/R-induced cell death in vitro. The reduced cell death was associated with decreased ROS generation, better-preserved mitochondrial ETC complex activity, membrane potential, and ATP production, as well as delayed mPTP opening. Loss of TRAP1 aggravates SI/R-induced mitochondrial damage in cardiomyocytes in vitro and myocardial I/R injury and apoptosis in vivo. Conclusion: The results of the present study show that TRAP1 provides cardioprotection against myocardial I/R by ameliorating mitochondrial dysfunction.


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