Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization and inner membrane permeabilization in regulating apoptosis and inflammation

Abstract

Recent studies delineate an intimate crosstalk between apoptosis and inflammation. However, the dynamic mechanism linking them by mitochondrial membrane permeabilization remains elusive. Here, we construct a mathematical model consisting of four functional modules. Bifurcation analysis reveals that bistability stems from Bcl-2 family member interaction and time series shows that the time difference between Cyt c and mtDNA release is around 30 min, which are consistent with previous works. The model predicts that Bax aggregation kinetic determines cells to undergo apoptosis or inflammation, and that modulating the inhibitory effect of caspase 3 on IFN-β production allows the concurrent occurrence of apoptosis and inflammation. This work provides a theoretical framework for exploring the mechanism of mitochondrial membrane permeabilization in controlling cell fate.