Measurement of Instantaneous Velocity Vectors of Organelle Transport: Mitochondrial Transport and Bioenergetics in Hippocampal Neurons

AbstractImpaired transport of mitochondria, in dendrites and axons of neurons, and bioenergetic deficit are increasingly recognized to be of pathological importance in neurodegenerative diseases. To study the relationship between transport and bioenergetics, we have developed what to our knowledge is a novel technique to quantify organelle velocity in cultured cells. The aim was to combine measurement of motion and bioenergetic parameters while minimizing photodynamic oxidative artifacts evoked by fluorescence excitation. Velocity determination from sequential fluorescence images is not trivial, and here we describe an application of “optical flow”, the flow of gray values in grayscale images, to this problem. Based on the principles of photon shot noise occurring in low light level fluorescence microscopy, we describe and validate here an optical flow-based, robust method to measure velocity vectors for organelles expressing fluorescent proteins. This method features instantaneous velocity determination from a pair of images by detecting motion of edges, with no assumptions about the separation or shapes of the objects in the image. Optical flow was used in combination with single mitochondrion assay of mitochondrial thiol redox status by mitochondrially targeted redox-sensitive green fluorescent protein and measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential by tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester. Mitochondrial populations of resting cultured hippocampal neurons were analyzed. It was found that mitochondria with more oxidized thiol redox status have lower membrane potentials and are smaller in size. These mitochondria are more motile than the average; however, mitochondrial motility is only slightly dependent on the observed bioenergetic parameters and is correlated the best to the size of the mitochondria

Total Cellular ATP Production Changes With Primary Substrate in MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells.

Cancer growth is predicted to require substantial rates of substrate catabolism and ATP turnover to drive unrestricted biosynthesis and cell growth. While substrate limitation can dramatically alter cell behavior, the effects of substrate limitation on total cellular ATP production rate is poorly understood. Here, we show that MCF7 breast cancer cells, given different combinations of the common cell culture substrates glucose, glutamine, and pyruvate, display ATP production rates 1.6-fold higher than when cells are limited to each individual substrate. This increase occurred mainly through faster oxidative ATP production, with little to no increase in glycolytic ATP production. In comparison, non-transformed C2C12 myoblast cells show no change in ATP production rate when substrates are limited. In MCF7 cells, glutamine allows unexpected access to oxidative capacity that pyruvate, also a strictly oxidized substrate, does not. Pyruvate, when added with other exogenous substrates, increases substrate-driven oxidative ATP production, by increasing both ATP supply and demand. Overall, we find that MCF7 cells are highly flexible with respect to maintaining total cellular ATP production under different substrate-limited conditions, over an acute (within minutes) timeframe that is unlikely to result from more protracted (hours or more) transcription-driven changes to metabolic enzyme expression. The near-identical ATP production rates maintained by MCF7 and C2C12 cells given single substrates reveal a potential difficulty in using substrate limitation to selectively starve cancer cells of ATP. In contrast, the higher ATP production rate conferred by mixed substrates in MCF7 cells remains a potentially exploitable difference

Measurement of the Absolute Magnitude and Time Courses of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Primary and Clonal Pancreatic Beta-Cells

The aim of this study was to simplify, improve and validate quantitative measurement of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔψM) in pancreatic β-cells. This built on our previously introduced calculation of the absolute magnitude of ΔψM in intact cells, using time-lapse imaging of the non-quench mode fluorescence of tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester and a bis-oxonol plasma membrane potential (ΔψP) indicator. ΔψM is a central mediator of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells. ΔψM is at the crossroads of cellular energy production and demand, therefore precise assay of its magnitude is a valuable tool to study how these processes interplay in insulin secretion. Dispersed islet cell cultures allowed cell type-specific, single-cell observations of cell-to-cell heterogeneity of ΔψM and ΔψP. Glucose addition caused hyperpolarization of ΔψM and depolarization of ΔψP. The hyperpolarization was a monophasic step increase, even in cells where the ΔψP depolarization was biphasic. The biphasic response of ΔψP was associated with a larger hyperpolarization of ΔψM than the monophasic response. Analysis of the relationships between ΔψP and ΔψM revealed that primary dispersed β-cells responded to glucose heterogeneously, driven by variable activation of energy metabolism. Sensitivity analysis of the calibration was consistent with β-cells having substantial cell-to-cell variations in amounts of mitochondria, and this was predicted not to impair the accuracy of determinations of relative changes in ΔψM and ΔψP. Finally, we demonstrate a significant problem with using an alternative ΔψM probe, rhodamine 123. In glucose-stimulated and oligomycin-inhibited β-cells the principles of the rhodamine 123 assay were breached, resulting in misleading conclusion

The Mitochondrial Targets of Neuroprotective Drug Vinpocetine on Primary Neuron Cultures, Brain Capillary Endothelial Cells, Synaptosomes, and Brain Mitochondria

Vinpocetine is considered as neuroprotectant drug and used for treatment of brain ischemia and cognitive deficiencies for decades. A number of enzymes, channels and receptors can bind vinpocetine, however the mechanisms of many effects' are still not clear. The present study investigated the effects of vinpocetine from the mitochondrial bioenergetic aspects. In primary brain capillary endothelial cells the purinergic receptor-stimulated mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and efflux were studied. Vinpocetine exerted a partial inhibition on the mitochondrial calcium efflux. In rodent brain synaptosomes vinpocetine (30 μM) inhibited respiration in uncoupler stimulated synaptosomes and decreased H2O2 release from the nerve terminals in resting and in complex I inhibited conditions, respectively. In isolated rat brain mitochondria using either complex I or complex II substrates leak respiration was stimulated, but ADP-induced respiration was inhibited by vinpocetine. The stimulation of oxidation was associated with a small extent of membrane depolarization. Mitochondrial H2O2 production was inhibited by vinpocetine under all conditions investigated. The most pronounced effects were detected with the complex II substrate succinate. Vinpocetine also mitigated both Ca2+-induced mitochondrial Ca2+-release and Ca2+-induced mitochondrial swelling. It lowered the rate of mitochondrial ATP synthesis, while increasing ATPase activity. These results indicate more than a single mitochondrial target of this vinca alkaloid. The relevance of the affected mitochondrial mechanisms in the anti ischemic effect of vinpocetine is discussed

Calcium Modulation of Exocytosis-Linked Plasma Membrane Potential Oscillations in INS-1 832/13 Cells.

In the presence of high glucose or pyruvate, INS-1 832/13 insulinoma cells undergo stochastic oscillations in plasma membrane potential (Δψp) leading to associated fluctuations in cytosolic free Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]c). Oscillations are not driven by upstream metabolic fluctuations, but rather by autonomous ionic mechanisms, the details of which are unclear. We have investigated the nature of the oscillator, with simultaneous fluorescence monitoring of Δψp, [Ca(2+)]c and exocytosis at single cell resolution, combined with analysis of the occurrence, frequency and amplitude of Δψp oscillations. Oscillations were closely coupled to exocytosis, indicated by coincident synaptopHluorin fluorescence enhancement. L-type Ca(2+) channel inhibitors enhanced Δψp and [Ca(2+)]c oscillation frequency in the presence of pyruvate, but abolished the sustained [Ca(2+)]c response following KCl-depolarization. The L-type Ca(2+) channel inhibitor isradipine did not inhibit oscillation-linked exocytosis. The T-type Ca(2+) channel inhibitor NNC-55 0396 inhibited Δψp and [Ca(2+)]c oscillations, implying that T-channels trigger oscillations and consequent exocytosis.Since distinct ion channels operate in oscillating and non-oscillating cells, quantitative analysis of Δψp and [Ca(2+)]c oscillations in a β-cell population may help to improve our understanding of the link between metabolism and insulin secretion

ROS Control Mitochondrial Motility through p38 and the Motor Adaptor Miro/Trak

Summary: Mitochondrial distribution and motility are recognized as central to many cellular functions, but their regulation by signaling mechanisms remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that reactive oxygen species (ROS), either derived from an extracellular source or intracellularly generated, control mitochondrial distribution and function by dose-dependently, specifically, and reversibly decreasing mitochondrial motility in both rat hippocampal primary cultured neurons and cell lines. ROS decrease motility independently of cytoplasmic [Ca2+], mitochondrial membrane potential, or permeability transition pore opening, known effectors of oxidative stress. However, multiple lines of genetic and pharmacological evidence support that a ROS-activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), p38α, is required for the motility inhibition. Furthermore, anchoring mitochondria directly to kinesins without involvement of the physiological adaptors between the organelles and the motor protein prevents the H2O2-induced decrease in mitochondrial motility. Thus, ROS engage p38α and the motor adaptor complex to exert changes in mitochondrial motility, which likely has both physiological and pathophysiological relevance. : Debattisti et al. examine how reactive oxygen species induce dose-dependent and reversible arrest of mitochondrial motility independently of [Ca2+]c in two different mammalian models. The authors argue that ROS target the adaptor complex through p38α to decrease mitochondrial movements. Keywords: reactive oxygen species, mitochondria, movement, calcium, permeability transition, p38, Miro, TRA