Regulation of the Metabolism of Rabbit Liver Mitochondria by Long Chain Fatty Acids and Other Uncouplers of Oxidative Phosphorylation

Quantitative effects of thermal injury and insulin on the metabolism of the skeletal muscle using the perfused rat hindquarter preparation

Injury from a severe burn or trauma can propel the body into a hypermetabolic state that can lead to the significant erosion of lean muscle mass. Investigations describing this process have been somewhat limited due to the lack of adequate experimental models. Here we report the use of a perfused rat hindquarter preparation to study the consequences of a moderate burn injury (approximately 20% total body surface area), with or without the addition of exogenous insulin (12.5 mU/mL), on the fluxes of major metabolites across the isolated skeletal muscle. The metabolic flux data was further analyzed using metabolic flux analysis (MFA), which allows for the estimation of the impact of these conditions on the intracellular muscle metabolism. Results indicate that this model is able to capture the increased rate of proteolysis, glutamine formation, and the negative nitrogen balance associated with the burn-induced hypermetabolic state. The inclusion of exogenous insulin resulted in significant changes in several fluxes, including an increase in the metabolism of glucose and the flux through the pentose phosphate pathway, as well as a reduction in the metabolism of glutamine, alanine, and leucine. However, insulin administration did not affect the nitrogen balance or the rate of proteolysis in the muscle, as has been suggested using other techniques. The use of the perfused hindquarter model coupled with MFA is a physiologically relevant and experimentally flexible platform for the exploration of skeletal muscle metabolism under catabolic conditions, and it will be useful in quantifying the specific metabolic consequences of other therapeutic advances.

The compartmentation of nucleoside diphosphate kinase in mitochondria

The compartmentation of nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK) was studied in mitochondria isolated from heart and liver of rat, rabbit, and pigeon. Compartmentation was assessed by determining latencies of enzyme activities, fractionating mitochondria with digitonin, and treating mitochondria with trypsin in the presence and absence of digitonin. NDPK activity in pigeon liver mitochondria was five- and seven-fold higher than in rat and rabbit liver mitochondria. The ratios of NDPK activities in liver vs. heart mitochondria were about 15 for rat, 2 for rabbit, and more than 40 for pigeon. Nearly all NDPK in pigeon liver mitochondria is in the matrix space, but outside the matrix in rat and rabbit liver mitochondria. Most NDPK in pigeon heart mitochondria was located outside the matrix while a significant fraction may be in the matrix of rat and rabbit heart mitochondria. These results are discussed relative to the assumed role that mitochondrial NDPK transfers the phosphoryl group of GTP produced in the Krebs cycle to the adenine nucleotide pool.

Interference by ethanol of coupling between gluconeogenesis and ureagenesis from proline in isolated hepatocytes

Proline stimulated equally the production of glucose and urea by isolated hepatocytes. Ethanol suppressed glucose production much more strongly than urea synthesis. The proline-derived carbon not reaching glucose was found as lactate. Inhibition of phosphoenolpyruvate synthesis with 3-mercaptopicolinate blocked gluconeogenesis, but was without effect on lactate production. Acetate was formed from endogenous sources, as well as from ethanol. Its accumulation from ethanol was enhanced both by proline and lactate. The differential effect of ethanol on gluconeogenesis and ureagenesis appears to be related to its effect on the redox state of the cell.

Control of cellular redox potential as measured in a steady-state, cell-free system

A cell-free system consisting of rat liver mitochondria, liver cytosol, lactate, and the substrates intrinsic to the malate-aspartate shuttle was reconstituted for studies of steady-state substrate fluxes and, more specifically, to evaluate further the mechanism of control of the intra- and extramitochondrial steady states of the free NAD+/NADH ratios. Soluble (F1) ATPase or 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) were added in varying amounts to alter substrate fluxes and the constant energy state of this 'open' metabolizing system. The steady-state redox segregation (1.36 log NAD+/NADH ratio out vs NAD+/NADH in the mitochondrial matrix) was maximally about 3 kcal, and declined together with the membrane potential (delta psi) and log ATP/ADP, which obtain on imposing an increasing energy load on the system. It is concluded that transmembrane movement of reducing equivalents is coupled to electron transfer through delta psi, mediated by the electrogenic exchange of glutamate and aspartate. When delta psi was high (near State 4), delta G redox was approximately the same as that generated without flux of reducing equivalents [E. J. Davis, J. Bremer, and K. E. Akerman (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 2277-2283], suggesting that delta Gredox is in near thermodynamic equilibrium with delta psi. If the steady-state ATP/ADP ratio was altered with an energy load (F1-ATPase), delta Gredox decreased more steeply than delta psi (tetraphenyl phosphonium-sensitive electrode used to measure delta psi). At comparable ranges of ATP/ADP, both delta Gredox and delta psi decreased more steeply with uncoupler than with an external ADP-regenerating system.

The effect of glucagon on the carbon flux from palmitate into glucose, lactate and ketone bodies, studied with isolated hepatocytes

Glucagon induced a rapid (within 3 min) increase in glucose radioactivity and a decrease in the labeling of ketone bodies when isolated hepatocytes were incubated in the presence of [1-14C]palmitate. Simultaneously, the hormone induced a decrease in the levels of pyruvate and Krebs cycle intermediates and an increase in the level of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP). The glucagon-induced increase in glucose radioactivity was much larger than the simultaneous decrease in lactate labeling. A comparison of the incorporation of labeled carbon from [1-14C]palmitate and [U-14C]palmitate into glucose and CO2 indicates a selective stimulatory action of glucagon on the flux through the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) reaction.

Reconstruction of steady state in cell-free systems. Interactions between glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism: regulation of the redox and phosphorylation states

A reconstituted "open" system comprising respiring mitochondria and actively glycolyzing muscle extract was devised for studies of vectorially mediated interactions. Glycogen particles were the substrate for the glycolyzing enzymes. Purified soluble (F1) ATPase was added in varying quantities to establish a range of energetic steady states. The data generally confirm our recent conclusions (Wu and Davis, (1981) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 208, 85-89) on the relative efficacy of the adenine nucleotides and their ratios, and of inorganic phosphate on flux through rate-controlling steps of glycolysis. When mitochondrial ATP synthesis was blocked, glycolytic flux was relatively rapid, and the lactate/pyruvate ratio increased with time to values up to greater than 300. If functional mitochondria were present, glycolytic flux was very strongly suppressed, provided the energy state (ATP/ADP) was high, and the phosphate concentration[Pi] was low. Adenine nucleotide control of glycolysis was to a large extent lost when the steady-state ATP/ADP was below about 10, or if [Pi] was elevated. In the two-phase system containing respiring mitochondria and components of the malate-aspartate shuttle, the ATP/ADP and both extra- and intramitochondrial NAD+/NADH ratios were maintained constant, and to various perturbable levels with varying energy load (ATPase). The gradient in reduction potentials attained values (delta Gredox) of up to about 2.5 kcal. The extramitochondrial redox state was not positively correlated with the external phosphorylation potential ([ATP]/[ADP] X [Pi]). The following conclusions are drawn on the basis of the present data, together with other reports (Davis, Bremer, and Akerman (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 2277-2283) and (Klingenberg and Rottenberg (1977) Eur. J. Biochem. 73, 125-130): (a) the gradient in reduction potential is driven by the membrane potential (delta psi), mediated by the electrogenic glutamate-aspartate exchange, and the poise or set point of this gradient is a function of delta psi; and (b) the gradient of ATP/ADP ratios across the membrane is also driven principally by delta psi, mediated by the electrogenic ATP-ADP exchange. Hence, segregation of phosphorylation and reduction potentials is linked through a mutually shared electrical driving force.

The effects of coenzyme A and carnitine on steady-state ATP/ADP ratios and the rate of long-chain free fatty acid oxidation in liver mitochondria

1. Conditions for the optimal coupled oxidation by rat liver mitochondria of long-chain free fatty acids were defined. The fatty acids studied were in the omega9 series: oleic (18 : 1), gondoic (20 : 1) and erucic (22 : 1) acids. Carnitine (about 0.1 mM) maximally stimulated State 3 respiration due to oleic and gondoic acids about three-fold (coenzyme A present), and coenzyme A (10--20 micrometer) stimulated about two-fold (carnitine present). When neither coenzyme A nor carnitine was added, respiration was very slow. 2. When respiration was limited by ADP, concentrations of added CoA only slightly in excess of that required for fatty acid oxidation very significantly decreased the ATP/ADP ratio maintained at a given rate of respiration imposed by externally added ATPase, and increased the level of membrane-associated acyl-CoA. This effect was most pronounced with oleic acid, and least with erucic acid. When excess ADP was present, higher concentrations of added coenzyme A (50--200 micrometer) inhibited to oxidation of oleic acid in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas the oxidation of substrates other than fatty acids was essentially unaffected. 3. It is concluded that, in addition to its requirement for fatty acid oxidation, coenzyme A exerts two independent effects on mitochondrial metabolism as here determined in vitro: (a) under conditions mimicking those in the intact cell with respect to phosphorylation-dependent respiration (ADP limiting), acyl-CoA formed from added coenzyme A and fatty acid inhibits the adenine nucleotide translocase, resulting in a lowering in the extramitochondrial ATP/ADP ratio obtained at any given rate of phosphorylation-limited respiration, and (b) under State 3 conditions (ADP in excess) coenzyme A ( less than 50--200 micrometer) specifically suppresses oxidation of long-chain fatty acids by limiting the rate of formation of intramitochondrial acyl-CoA.