Diabetic mitochondria are resistant to palmitoyl CoA inhibition of respiration, which is detrimental during ischemia.

The bioactive lipid intermediate palmitoyl CoA (PCoA) can inhibit mitochondrial ADP/ATP transport, though the physiological relevance of this regulation remains unclear. We questioned whether myocardial ischemia provides a pathological setting in which PCoA regulation of ADP/ATP transport would be beneficial, and secondly, whether the chronically elevated lipid content within the diabetic heart could make mitochondria less sensitive to the effects of PCoA. PCoA acutely decreased ADP-stimulated state 3 respiration and increased the apparent Km for ADP twofold. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50 ) of PCoA in control mitochondria was 22 µM. This inhibitory effect of PCoA on respiration was blunted in diabetic mitochondria, with no significant difference in the Km for ADP in the presence of PCoA, and an increase in the IC50 to 32 µM PCoA. The competitive inhibition by PCoA was localised to the phosphorylation apparatus, particularly the ADP/ATP carrier (AAC). During ischemia, the AAC imports ATP into the mitochondria, where it is hydrolysed by reversal of the ATP synthase, regenerating the membrane potential. Addition of PCoA dose-dependently prevented this wasteful ATP hydrolysis for membrane repolarisation during ischemia, however, this beneficial effect was blunted in diabetic mitochondria. Finally, using 31 P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy we demonstrated that diabetic hearts lose ATP more rapidly during ischemia, with a threefold higher ATP decay rate compared with control hearts. In conclusion, PCoA plays a role in protecting mitochondrial energetics during ischemia, by preventing wasteful ATP hydrolysis. However, this beneficial effect is blunted in diabetes, contributing to the impaired energy metabolism seen during myocardial ischemia in the diabetic heart.

Using an Integrated -Omics Approach to Identify Key Cellular Processes That Are Disturbed in the Kidney After Brain Death.

In an era where we are becoming more reliant on vulnerable kidneys for transplantation from older donors, there is an urgent need to understand how brain death leads to kidney dysfunction and, hence, how this can be prevented. Using a rodent model of hemorrhagic stroke and next-generation proteomic and metabolomic technologies, we aimed to delineate which key cellular processes are perturbed in the kidney after brain death. Pathway analysis of the proteomic signature of kidneys from brain-dead donors revealed large-scale changes in mitochondrial proteins that were associated with altered mitochondrial activity and morphological evidence of mitochondrial injury. We identified an increase in a number of glycolytic proteins and lactate production, suggesting a shift toward anaerobic metabolism. Higher amounts of succinate were found in the brain death group, in conjunction with increased markers of oxidative stress. We characterized the responsiveness of hypoxia inducible factors and found this correlated with post-brain death mean arterial pressures. Brain death leads to metabolic disturbances in the kidney and alterations in mitochondrial function and reactive oxygen species generation. This metabolic disturbance and alteration in mitochondrial function may lead to further cellular injury. Conditioning the brain-dead organ donor by altering metabolism could be a novel approach to ameliorate this brain death-induced kidney injury.

Isoproterenol induces in vivo functional and metabolic abnormalities: similar to those found in the infarcted rat heart.

Chronic isoproterenol administration produces a rapid, highly reproducible rodent model of cardiac hypertrophy. Yet, despite widespread use of this model, the effects of isoproterenol on in vivo cardiac function and substrate metabolism are unknown. Isoproterenol (5 mg.kg(-1).day(-1)) was infused for 7 days in male Wistar rats (n = 22). In vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that left ventricular mass increased by 37% and end-diastolic and systolic volumes increased by 33% and 73%, respectively, following isoproterenol infusion. Cardiac function at the base of the left ventricle was normal, but apical ejection fraction decreased from 90% to 31% and apical free wall thickening decreased by 94%, accompanied by increased fibrosis and inflammation. Myocardial palmitate oxidation rates were 25% lower, and citrate synthase and medium chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase activities were reduced by 25% and 29%, respectively, following isoproterenol infusion. Fatty acid transporter protein levels were 11-52% lower and triglyceride concentrations were 55% lower in isoproterenol-infused rat hearts. Basal glycolysis and glycogen concentration were not changed, yet insulin stimulated glycolysis was decreased by 32%, accompanied by 33% lower insulin stimulated glucose transporter, GLUT4, protein levels in rat hearts following isoproterenol infusion, compared with controls. In conclusion, isoproterenol infusion impaired in vivo cardiac function, induced hypertrophy, and decreased both fatty acid and glucose metabolism, changes similar in direction and magnitude to those found in the rat heart following moderate severity myocardial infarction.