Lipophilic triphenylphosphonium cations inhibit mitochondrial electron transport chain and induce mitochondrial proton leak.

Jan Trnka,Michal Anděl,Moustafa Elkalaf,Ferenc Gallyas Jr

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121837

Jan Trnka, Michal Anděl + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121837

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Apr 30, 2015
Citations: 171	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Charles University

Abstract

BackgroundThe lipophilic positively charged moiety of triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) has been used to target a range of biologically active compounds including antioxidants, spin-traps and other probes into mitochondria. The moiety itself, while often considered biologically inert, appears to influence mitochondrial metabolism.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe used the Seahorse XF flux analyzer to measure the effect of a range of alkylTPP+ on cellular respiration and further analyzed their effect on mitochondrial membrane potential and the activity of respiratory complexes. We found that the ability of alkylTPP+ to inhibit the respiratory chain and decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential increases with the length of the alkyl chain suggesting that hydrophobicity is an important determinant of toxicity.Conclusions/SignificanceMore hydrophobic TPP+ derivatives can be expected to have a negative impact on mitochondrial membrane potential and respiratory chain activity in addition to the effect of the biologically active moiety attached to them. Using shorter linker chains or adding hydrophilic functional groups may provide a means to decrease this negative effect.

Highlights

Lipophilic cations based on the triphenylphosphonium moiety (TPP+) have been widely used to target various biologically active substances such as antioxidants [1,2,3,4,5,6], spin traps [7,8,9,10] or various other chemical probes into mitochondria [11, 12]
We found that the ability of alkylTPP+ to inhibit the respiratory chain and decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential increases with the length of the alkyl chain suggesting that hydrophobicity is an important determinant of toxicity
We show a clear evidence that TPP+ derivatives with simple alkyl chains in place of ‘active’ chemical moieties may significantly affect mitochondrial bioenergetics

Summary

Background

The lipophilic positively charged moiety of triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) has been used to target a range of biologically active compounds including antioxidants, spin-traps and other probes into mitochondria. We used the Seahorse XF flux analyzer to measure the effect of a range of alkylTPP+ on cellular respiration and further analyzed their effect on mitochondrial membrane potential and the activity of respiratory complexes. We found that the ability of alkylTPP+ to inhibit the respiratory chain and decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential increases with the length of the alkyl chain suggesting that hydrophobicity is an important determinant of toxicity. More hydrophobic TPP+ derivatives can be expected to have a negative impact on mitochondrial membrane potential and respiratory chain activity in addition to the effect of the biologically active moiety attached to them.

Introduction

Findings

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