Jane Comte

Lipid composition and protein profiles of outer and inner membranes from pig heart mitochondria. Comparison with microsomes.

1. Mitochondria, inner and outer mitochondrial membranes and microsomes were isolated and purified from pig heart. Their lipid composition and protein components were studied. 2. The fatty acid distribution in the main phospholipids seemed specific rather of a given phospholipid and not of one type of membrane. 3. Inner mitochondrial membranes were characterized by a high content in cardiolipin and a very low level of triglycerides together with a high degree of unsaturation and C18 acids. Gel electrophoresis revealed 13 different polypeptide subunits of which 5 were major ranging in molecular weights from 10000 to 215000. 4. In outer mitochondrial membranes, total lipid, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, plasmologen and triglyceride contents were much higher than in inner membranes. Fatty acids of phospholipids were mostly saturated and the polypeptide pattern showed 12 components, of which 4 were major of mol. wt 75000, 60000, 20000 and below 10000. 5. Compared to outer membrane, microsomes exhibited a much higher cholesterol content and markedly different protein profiles. They contained significant amounts of cardiolipin and phosphatidylserine, this latter phospholipid being exclusively located in microsomes. However odd similarities were observed in some lipid components of microsomes and inner mitochondrial membranes, but fatty acids were more saturated in microsomes and electrophoretic profiles of protein components appeared very different and revealed components of high mol. wt.

Vesicular preparation of a highly coupled ATPase-ATP synthase complex from pig heart mitochondria.

1. A method is described to prepare an ATPase-ATP synthase complex from pig heart mitochondria exhibiting a very high ATP-32Pi exchange activity (1.6 mumol/min per mag protein in optimal conditions). 2. The preparation is virtually devoid of nucleoside diphosphokinase and adenylate kinase activities. 3. Freeze-fracture studies show that the ATPase-ATP synthase complex is integrated in lipid vesicles of 400-600 A in diameter. 4. It contains the endogenous natural proteic inhibitor which seems to behave as a coupling factor. 5. The rate of ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by the ATPase-ATP synthase complex is competitively inhibited by ADP, while the presence of ADP increases the initial rate of 32Pi incorporation into ATP. 6. The 32Pi incorporation into ATP can occur at a rate almost equal to that of nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) hydrolysis provided that the rate of NTP hydrolysis is kept low and that the ADP concentration is high enough. In these conditions, a very high coupling between NTP hydrolysis and ATP synthesis can be demonstrated.

Asymmetrical orientation of phospholipids and their interactions with marker enzymes in pig heart mitochondrial inner membrane

The transverse distribution of phospholipids and their interactions with marker enzymes were investigated in pig heart mitoplasts and inverted vesicles, using phospholipase A2 from N. naja venom and chemical labeling with TNBS and FDNB. Morphological integrity was checked by freeze-fracturing. Fifty percent of phosphatidylcholine was hydrolyzed in mitoplasts as well as in inverted vesicles, suggesting an even distribution of this phospholipid on the two halves of the inner membrane; however, the fatty acid distribution did not appear the same in the two membrane fractions. Cardiolipin is exclusively hydrolyzed in inverted vesicles proving its location on the inner face of the inner membrane. The results obtained from phospholipase hydrolysis and TNBS labeling suggest that three different pools of phosphatidylethanolamine occur in the membrane: a first pool—about 50–60% of the total membrane phosphatidylethanolamine–is quickly accessible from the two sides of the membrane, a second pool—about 20–30% is slowly available, and finally 20–30% are buried within the membrane and inaccessible to the phospholipase and the probe. The cytochrome c oxidase activity increased in mitoplasts with the phospholipase attack suggesting a better accessibility of added cytochrome c after the attack. The rotenone-sensitive NADH-cytochrome c reductase was activated in mitoplasts but completely inactivated in inverted vesicles by the attack; the addition of cardiolipin liposomes restored the latter activity. The soluble matricial malate dehydrogenase was released, but the particulate form of this enzyme, strongly associated to the membrane, was detached only after attack of inverted vesicles.

[11] Preparation of outer membrane from pig heart mitochondria

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a procedure to obtain outer and inner membranes from pig heart mitochondria as pure and intact as possible for the identification of all their components and their mode of assembly. It describes a method to achieve a rapid separation of the inner and outer membranes from rat heart mitochondria on a small scale. The technique involves the use of a proteinase. It is based on mild mitochondrial swelling in the presence of inorganic phosphate and the use of discontinuous sucrose gradients. In heart mitochondria, the main difficulty in obtaining pure outer membrane results from the very small surface of this membrane as compared to the large number of cristae. In addition, heart mitochondria are imbricated in a network of myofibrils and sarcoplasmic reticulum. The method involves the preparation of pure outer and inner membrane on a large scale, without the use of a proteinase.

The markers of pig heart mitochondrial sub-fractions. II. - On the association of malate dehydrogenase with inner membrane.

Malate dehydrogenase, reputed to be a soluble matricial enzyme, is shown to be also strongly associated with the inner membrane, in pig heart mitochondria. Repeated sonications, water washes, freezing-thawing cycles are not very effective to remove malate dehydrogenase activity from inner membranes, which whatever the treatment, remains important. This activity is only partly solubilized by the substrates, malate or oxaloacetate. High ionic strength treatments by either NaCl-carbonate or 3M KCl have a strong effect, but they also remove cytochrome c oxidase and rotenone-sensitive NADH-cytochrome c reductase, reputed inner membrane intrinsic enzymes, thus strongly damaging the inner membrane. After the action of phospholipase A from Naja Naja Venom, the residual activity is about twenty per cent and only phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine decreased significantly, the other phospholipids being unchanged. It is suggested that the enzyme is deeply buried in the membrane and mainly interacts with phosphatidyl choline.

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) from pig heart mitochondria. Participation in metabolism regulation. Properties of the enzyme in situ and of the purified enzyme.

Summary The presence and role of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) in heart mitochondria have been questioned in the past. However our results on glutamate oxidation by pig heart mitochondria (PHM) could only be explained if GDH worked intensely. The present work conducted with two different approaches brings irrefutable proofs of the presence and important role of GDH in PHM. o 1) Kinetics of interactions between glutamate and pyruvate oxidations prove that PHM in physiological conditions when acetyl CoA was widely available (pyruvate oxidation) oxidized 90 p. cent of added glutamate via GDH. As soon as acetyl CoA source was cut down, oxaloacetate was no longer used for condensation with acetyl CoA and became available for glutamate transamination; this latter process became preponderant while GDH synthetized glutamate in another compartment at the expense of accumulated reducing power. 2) GDH has been isolated and some of its properties are described. Various tests (Sephadex G200 gel filtration, Gel electrophoresis, ultracentrifugation) indicate that the isolated GDH was pure. Calculations from sedimentation constant and diffusion coefficient give the molecular weight of 250,000 g, for a partial specific volume of 0.75. Vm and Km for each substrate and coenzyme, optimum temperature and pH for both forward and backward reactions are given. The enzyme exhibited very strict pH, ionic strength and temperature dependence. Product inhibition procedure according to Cleland suggests a Bi-Ter mechanism for the enzyme.

The markers of pig heart mitochondrial sub-fractions: I. — The dual location of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase in outer membrane and microsomes

Evidence is presented about the dual location of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase in mitochondrial outer membranes as well as in microsomes, from pig heart. A high specific activity, was found in both fractions, even after their purification by washing, digitonin treatments, or passages on sucrose gradients. A large fraction of the total activity was associated with both mitochondria and microsomes. Mitochondrial outer membrane differs from microsomes by a low choline phosphotransferase activity and the absence of cytochrome P-450. The properties of mitochondrial and microsomal rotenone-insensitive NADH- and NADPH-cytochrome c reductases were studied. In microsomes, both activities have the same optimum pH (8.5) ; in contrast, in mitochondria they have a different one. The Km-NADPH were always much higher than those for NADH. In mitochondria the Km for NAD(P)H were dependent on cytochrome c concentration. The results show that the rotenone-insensitive NADH- and NADPH-cytochrome c reductases of mitochondria and microsomes have quite different behavior and do not appear to be supported by the same enzyme.

High phosphate requirement for oxidative phosphorylation and low affinity for phosphate transport in newborn rat liver mitochondria.

Rat liver mitochondria are not fully functional at birth. The relationship between this deficiency and the affinity for phosphate, in oxidative phosphorylation or in phosphate transport, have been studied. The phosphate concentration necessary to observe maximal rate of succinate oxidation in the presence of ADP was higher for newborn than for adult rat liver mitochondria. After preincubation of newborn rat liver mitochondria with ATP, the rate of succinate oxidation in the presence of ADP increased with phosphate concentration similarly for newborn and adult rat liver mitochondria. The maximal rate of phosphate-acetate exchange, which is an indirect measure of the rate of phosphate transport across the mitochondrial membrane, was not significantly different for adult and newborn rat liver mitochondria. On the contrary the apparent affinity for phosphate was about ten-fold lower for newborn than for adult mitochondria.

Reversal of glucose-induced inhibition of newborn rat liver mitochondrial maturation by administration of alkylxanthines at birth

A glucose injection given immediately after birth delays the maturation which normally occurs in rat liver mitochondria and which increases the rate of ATP synthesis coupled to succinate oxidation from a low value at birth to the adult value a few hours after birth [R. Meister, J. Comte, L. Baggetto, C. Godinot and D. C. Gautheron, Biochim. biophys. Acta 722, 36 (1983)]. Alkylxanthine (pentoxifylline, HWA 285) administration at birth has no effect on the maturation of mitochondria prepared from 2-hr-old rat livers while DBcAMP administration increases their RCR and their rate of ATP synthesis. On the contrary, both alkylxanthines and DBcAMP reverse the glucose-induced inhibition of mitochondrial maturation. This DBcAMP effect cannot be mimicked by butyrate and is therefore related to cAMP. The cAMP content of rat liver increases during this postnatal period in both control and glucose-treated rats, although glucose administration tends to decrease the level of cAMP. Alkylxanthine administration restores after 2 hr the cAMP level in glucose-treated animals. The variations of RCR could not be completely correlated with the level of cAMP. The possible involvement of other factors in the mitochondrial maturation and the glucose effect is discussed.

Inhibitory effect of glucose on the maturation of rat liver mitochondria at birth. Phospholipid and oxidative metabolism

(1) The rate of ATP synthesis coupled with succinate oxidation in rat liver mitochondria is low at birth and increases rapidly during the first postnatal hours (Nakazawa, T., Asami, K., Suzuki, H. and Yakawa, O. (1973) J. Biochem. 73, 397-406). A glucose injection given to newborn rats immediately after birth seemed to delay this maturation process. (2) Glucose administration specifically diminished the rate of 32Pi incorporation into phosphatidylcholine both in microsomes and in mitochondria while other phospholipids remained unaffected. (3) In newborn rat liver, 32Pi incorporation into phospholipids can be explained by de novo synthesis of phospholipids in microsomes followed by transfer to mitochondria with two exceptions phosphatidylserine and sphingomyelin. Indeed, after a 20-min incorporation of 32Pi into phospholipids, the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylserine and sphingomyelin was higher in mitochondria than in microsomes. (4) As far as phospholipid synthesis is concerned, no precursor-product relationship could be observed between light and heavy mitochondria.