Carnitine effects on coenzyme A profiles in rat liver with hypoglycin inhibition of multiple dehydrogenases

Microbiota-derived butyrate is an endogenous HIF prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor

The gut microbiota is essential for human health. Microbial supply of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), particularly butyrate, is a well-established contributor to gut homeostasis and disease resistance. Reaching millimolar luminal concentrations, butyrate is sequestered and utilized in the colon as the favored energy source for intestinal epithelia. Given the steep oxygen gradient across the anoxic lumen and the highly oxygenated lamina propria, the colon provides a particularly interesting environment to study oxygen sensing. Previous studies have shown that the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is stabilized in healthy colonic epithelia. Here we show that butyrate directly inhibits HIF prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs) to stabilize HIF. We find that butyrate stabilizes HIF in vitro despite eliminating β-oxidation and resultant oxygen consumption. Using recombinant PHD protein in combination with nuclear magnetic resonance and enzymatic biochemical assays, we identify butyrate to bind and function as a unique, noncompetitive inhibitor of PHDs relative to other SCFAs. Butyrate inhibited PHD with a noncompetitive Ki of 5.3 ± 0.5 mM, a physiologically relevant concentration. We also confirm that microbiota-derived butyrate is necessary to stabilize HIF in mice colonic tissue through antibiotic-induced butyrate depletion and reconstitution experiments. Our results suggest that the co-evolution of mammals and mutualistic microbiota has selected for butyrate to impact a critical gene regulation pathway that can be extended beyond the mammalian gut. As PHDs are a major target for drug development in the stabilization of HIF, butyrate holds great potential as a well-tolerated endogenous inhibitor with far-reaching therapeutic impact.

In vivo studies on the mechanism of methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid and methylene cyclopropyl glycine-induced hypoglycemia

Exposure to the toxins methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid (MCPA) and methylene cyclopropyl glycine (MCPG) of unripe ackee and litchi fruit can lead to hypoglycemia and death; however, the molecular mechanisms by which MCPA and MCPG cause hypoglycemia have not been established in vivo To determine the in vivo mechanisms of action of these toxins, we infused them into conscious rodents and assessed rates of hepatic gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis, hepatic acyl-CoA and hepatic acetyl-CoA content, and hepatocellular energy charge. MCPG suppressed rates of hepatic β-oxidation as reflected by reductions in hepatic ketogenesis, reducing both short- and medium-chain hepatic acyl-CoA concentrations. Hepatic acetyl-CoA content decreased, and hepatic glucose production was inhibited. MCPA also suppressed β-oxidation of short-chain acyl-CoAs, rapidly inhibiting hepatic ketogenesis and hepatic glucose production, depleting hepatic acetyl-CoA content and ATP content, while increasing other short-chain acyl-CoAs. Utilizing a recently developed positional isotopomer NMR tracer analysis method, we demonstrated that MCPA-induced reductions in hepatic acetyl-CoA content were associated with a marked reduction of hepatic pyruvate carboxylase (PC) flux. Taken together, these data reveal the in vivo mechanisms of action of MCPA and MCPG: the hypoglycemia associated with ingestion of these toxins can be ascribed mostly to MCPA- or MCPG-induced reductions in hepatic PC flux due to inhibition of β-oxidation of short-chain acyl-CoAs by MCPA or inhibition of both short- and medium-chain acyl-CoAs by MCPG with resultant reductions in hepatic acetyl-CoA content, with an additional contribution to hypoglycemia through reduced hepatic ATP stores by MCPA.

A liver-specific defect of Acyl-CoA degradation produces hyperammonemia, hypoglycemia and a distinct hepatic Acyl-CoA pattern

Most conditions detected by expanded newborn screening result from deficiency of one of the enzymes that degrade acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) esters in mitochondria. The role of acyl-CoAs in the pathophysiology of these disorders is poorly understood, in part because CoA esters are intracellular and samples are not generally available from human patients. We created a mouse model of one such condition, deficiency of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA lyase (HL), in liver (HLLKO mice). HL catalyses a reaction of ketone body synthesis and of leucine degradation. Chronic HL deficiency and acute crises each produced distinct abnormal liver acyl-CoA patterns, which would not be predictable from levels of urine organic acids and plasma acylcarnitines. In HLLKO hepatocytes, ketogenesis was undetectable. Carboxylation of [2-(14)C] pyruvate diminished following incubation of HLLKO hepatocytes with the leucine metabolite 2-ketoisocaproate (KIC). HLLKO mice also had suppression of the normal hyperglycemic response to a systemic pyruvate load, a measure of gluconeogenesis. Hyperammonemia and hypoglycemia, cardinal features of many inborn errors of acyl-CoA metabolism, occurred spontaneously in some HLLKO mice and were inducible by administering KIC. KIC loading also increased levels of several leucine-related acyl-CoAs and reduced acetyl-CoA levels. Ultrastructurally, hepatocyte mitochondria of KIC-treated HLLKO mice show marked swelling. KIC-induced hyperammonemia improved following administration of carglumate (N-carbamyl-L-glutamic acid), which substitutes for the product of an acetyl-CoA-dependent reaction essential for urea cycle function, demonstrating an acyl-CoA-related mechanism for this complication.