Diazoxide protects against methylmalonate-induced neuronal toxicity.

Methylmalonic acidemia is an inherited metabolic disorder that leads to brain damage associated to the accumulation of methylmalonic acid (MMA) and impairment of energy metabolism. We demonstrate here that treatment with diazoxide, an agonist of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K(+) channels (mitoK(ATP)), can prevent death promoted by treatment with MMA in PC12 cells and freshly prepared rat brain slices. This diazoxide effect was reversed by 5-hydroxydecanoate, a mitoK(ATP) antagonist, confirming it occurs due to the activity of this channel. Diazoxide was not capable of preventing inner membrane potential loss promoted by MMA and Ca(2+) in isolated mitochondria, indicating it does not directly prevent mitochondrial damage. Furthermore, diazoxide did not prevent respiratory inhibition in cells treated with MMA. Interestingly, we found that the mitochondrial inner membrane potential within intact cells treated with MMA was maintained in part by the reverse activity of ATP synthase (ATP hydrolysis) and that diazoxide prevented the formation of the membrane potential in the presence of MMA, in a manner sensitive to 5-hydroxydecanoate. Furthermore, the effects of diazoxide on cell survival after treatment with MMA were similar to those of ATP synthase inhibitor oligomycin and adenine nucleotide translocator inhibitor atractyloside. These results indicate that diazoxide prevents PC12 cell death promoted by MMA by decreasing mitochondrial ATP hydrolysis. These results uncover new potential neuroprotective effects of mitoK(ATP) agonists under situations in which oxidative phosphorylation is inhibited.

Lactate dehydrogenase activity is inhibited by methylmalonate in vitro.

Methylmalonic acidemia (MMAemia) is an inherited metabolic disorder of branched amino acid and odd-chain fatty acid metabolism, involving a defect in the conversion of methylmalonyl-coenzyme A to succinyl-coenzyme A. Systemic and neurological manifestations in this disease are thought to be associated with the accumulation of methylmalonate (MMA) in tissues and biological fluids with consequent impairment of energy metabolism and oxidative stress. In the present work we studied the effect of MMA and two other inhibitors of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex II (malonate and 3-nitropropionate) on the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in tissue homogenates from adult rats. MMA potently inhibited LDH-catalyzed conversion of lactate to pyruvate in liver and brain homogenates as well as in a purified bovine heart LDH preparation. LDH was about one order of magnitude less sensitive to inhibition by MMA when catalyzing the conversion of pyruvate to lactate. Kinetic studies on the inhibition of brain LDH indicated that MMA inhibits this enzyme competitively with lactate as a substrate (K (i)=3.02+/-0.59 mM). Malonate and 3-nitropropionate also strongly inhibited LDH-catalyzed conversion of lactate to pyruvate in brain homogenates, while no inhibition was observed by succinate or propionate, when present in concentrations of up to 25 mM. We propose that inhibition of the lactate/pyruvate conversion by MMA contributes to lactate accumulation in blood, metabolic acidemia and inhibition of gluconeogenesis observed in patients with MMAemia. Moreover, the inhibition of LDH in the central nervous system may also impair the lactate shuttle between astrocytes and neurons, compromising neuronal energy metabolism.

Oxidative stress in atherosclerosis-prone mouse is due to low antioxidant capacity of mitochondria.

Atherosclerotic disease remains a leading cause of death in westernized societies, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a pivotal role in atherogenesis. Mitochondria are the main intracellular sites of ROS generation and are also targets for oxidative damage. Here, we show that mitochondria from atherosclerosis-prone, hypercholesterolemic low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor knockout mice have oxidative phosphorylation efficiency similar to that from control mice but have a higher net production of ROS and susceptibility to develop membrane permeability transition. Increased ROS production was observed in mitochondria isolated from several tissues, including liver, heart, and brain, and in intact mononuclear cells from spleen. In contrast to control mitochondria, knockout mouse mitochondria did not sustain a reduced state of matrix NADPH, the main source of antioxidant defense against ROS. Experiments in vivo showed faster liver secretion rates and de novo synthesis of triglycerides and cholesterol in knockout than in control mice, suggesting that increased lipogenesis depleted the reducing equivalents from NADPH and generated a state of oxidative stress in hypercholesterolemic knockout mice. These data provide the first evidence of how oxidative stress is generated in LDL receptor defective cells and could explain the increased LDL oxidation, cell death, and atherogenesis seen in familiar hypercholesterolemia.

Methyl phenyl selenide causes heme biosynthesis impairment and its toxicity is not modified by dimethyl sulphoxide in vivo.

Organoselenium compounds can cause anemia in mice, possibly as a consequence of impairment of the heme biosynthesis pathway. Such compounds can inhibit the sulfhydryl-containing enzyme delta-aminolevulinate dehydratase (delta-ALA-D), which is involved in the heme biosynthetic pathway, leading to a decrease in the syntheses of hemoglobin, cytochromes and other heme-proteins. Methyl phenyl selenide (CH3SePh) has chemopreventive activity against cancer in rodents, raising the possibility of therapeutic use of this compound by humans. Treatment with methyl phenyl selenide (500 micromol/kg/day, 30 days) inhibited the delta-aminolevulinate dehydratase activity in adult male mice. Furthermore, the exposure to methyl phenyl selenide caused an increase in the liver/body weight ratio and a decrease in the hemoglobin content when compared to the control animals. The vehicle used (DMSO or corn oil) did not affect any of the analyzed parameters or the selenide effects towards these parameters. In summary, results presented here support that delta-aminolevulinate dehydratase is a potential target to CH3SePh, leading to an impairment of hemoglobin content, a heme biosynthetic endpoint.

Mitochondrial permeability transition in neuronal damage promoted by Ca2+ and respiratory chain complex II inhibition.

Changes in mitochondrial integrity, reactive oxygen species release and Ca2+ handling are proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of many neurological disorders including methylmalonic acidaemia and Huntington's disease, which exhibit partial mitochondrial respiratory inhibition. In this report, we studied the mechanisms by which the respiratory chain complex II inhibitors malonate, methylmalonate and 3-nitropropionate affect rat brain mitochondrial function and neuronal survival. All three compounds, at concentrations which inhibit respiration by 50%, induced mitochondrial inner membrane permeabilization when in the presence of micromolar Ca2+ concentrations. ADP, cyclosporin A and catalase prevented or delayed this effect, indicating it is mediated by reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial permeability transition (PT). PT induced by malonate was also present in mitochondria isolated from liver and kidney, but required more significant respiratory inhibition. In brain, PT promoted by complex II inhibition was stimulated by increasing Ca2+ cycling and absent when mitochondria were pre-loaded with Ca2+ or when Ca2+ uptake was prevented. In addition to isolated mitochondria, we determined the effect of methylmalonate on cultured PC12 cells and freshly prepared rat brain slices. Methylmalonate promoted cell death in striatal slices and PC12 cells, in a manner attenuated by cyclosporin A and bongkrekate, and unrelated to impairment of energy metabolism. We propose that under conditions in which mitochondrial complex II is partially inhibited in the CNS, neuronal cell death involves the induction of PT.

Cyclosporin A and Bcl-2 do not inhibit quinolinic acid-induced striatal excitotoxicity in rodents.

Mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) is a nonselective inner membrane permeabilization that contributes to neuronal cell death under circumstances such as brain trauma, ischemia, and hypoglycemia. Here we study the participation of MPT and the Bcl-2-sensitive apoptotic cell death pathway in glutamate receptor-mediated excitotoxicity. Intrastriatal infusions of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist quinolinic acid caused massive striatal neurodegeneration in both rats and mice. Interestingly, transgenic mice overexpressing human Bcl-2 and rats systemically treated with cyclosporin A did not exhibit reduced sensitivity to quinolinic acid-induced striatal toxicity. Both Bcl-2 and cyclosporin A are inhibitors of MPT; in addition Bcl-2 also inhibits apoptotic stimuli-mediated release of mitochondrial apoptogenic factors. Isolated brain mitochondria from cyclosporin A-treated rats showed resistance to Ca(2+)-induced dissipation of the membrane potential, indicating protection against MPT. We conclude that quinolinic acid-mediated striatal excitotoxicity is not dependent on MPT and Bcl-2-sensitive apoptotic cell death pathways.

Ca2+-induced oxidative stress in brain mitochondria treated with the respiratory chain inhibitor rotenone.

In this study we show that micromolar Ca(2+) concentrations (>10 microM) strongly stimulate the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in rotenone-treated isolated rat forebrain mitochondria. Ca(2+)-stimulated mitochondrial ROS release was associated with membrane lipid peroxidation and was directly correlated with the degree of complex I inhibition by rotenone. On the other hand, Ca(2+) did not increase mitochondrial ROS release in the presence of the complex I inhibitor 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium. Cyclosporin A had no effect on Ca(2+)-stimulated mitochondrial ROS release in the presence of rotenone, indicating that mitochondrial permeability transition is not involved in this process. We hypothesized that Ca(2+)-induced mitochondrial oxidative stress associated with partial inhibition of complex I may be an important factor in neuronal cell death observed in the neurodegenerative disorder Parkinson's disease.