Biomedical subjects

M D Brand

Publications and source records attributed to M D Brand.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed1998

Errors associated with metabolic control analysis. Application Of Monte-Carlo simulation of experimental data.

The errors associated with experimental application of metabolic control analysis are difficult to assess. In this paper, we give examples where Monte-Carlo simulations of published experimental data are used in error analysis. Data was simulated according to the mean and error obtained from experimental measurements and the simulated data was used to calculate control coefficients. Repeating the simulation 500 times allowed an estimate to be made of the error implicit in the calculated control coefficients. In the first example, state 4 respiration of isolated mitochondria, Monte-Carlo simulations based on the system elasticities were performed. The simulations gave error estimates similar to the values reported within the original paper and those derived from a sensitivity analysis of the elasticities. This demonstrated the validity of the method. In the second example, state 3 respiration of isolated mitochondria, Monte-Carlo simulations were based on measurements of intermediates and fluxes. A key feature of this simulation was that the distribution of the simulated control coefficients did not follow a normal distribution, despite simulation of the original data being based on normal distributions. Consequently, the error calculated using simulation was greater and more realistic than the error calculated directly by averaging the original results. The Monte-Carlo simulations are also demonstrated to be useful in experimental design. The individual data points that should be repeated in order to reduce the error in the control coefficients can be highlighted.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Control analysis of systems with reaction blocks that 'cross-talk'.

Practical application of metabolic control analysis has been facilitated by use of the top-down approach, which divides a metabolic system into a small number of reaction blocks, linked by a few key intermediates. Previous papers have stressed that communication between blocks should be only through the explicit intermediates, 'cross-talk' between reaction blocks invalidated the approach. Here we show how the restriction is a result of the use of inhibitors of the blocks, and can be overcome if other system modulations are used. We also show a way to treat the related problem of enzymes that appear in more than one block such as the analysis of glycolytic substrate cycles into ATP consuming and net flux activities.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1998

Changes in the hepatic mitochondrial respiratory system in the transition from weaning to adulthood in rats.

In the present study we investigated the changes in the hepatic mitochondrial respiratory system in the transition from weaning to adulthood in the rat. We conceptually divided the system into blocks of reactions that produced or consumed mitochondrial membrane potential and then measured the kinetic responses of these blocks of reactions to changes in this potential in isolated liver mitochondria from 25- and 60-day-old rats using succinate as substrate. Moreover, we considered the mitochondrial membrane potential producers to be divided into blocks of reactions that reduced or oxidized ubiquinone-2 (Q-2) and then measured the kinetic responses of these two blocks to changes in Q-2 redox state as well as the flux control coefficients and the cytochrome content. We found that adult rats exhibited significantly higher state 3 respiratory rates with increased kinetic response of the substrate oxidation pathway to the mitochondrial membrane potential, slightly decreased activity of the phosphorylating system, increased kinetic responses of both Q-2 reducers and oxidizers to Q-2 redox state, and increased cytochrome content. Our results indicate that important changes in the hepatic mitochondrial respiratory system occur in the transition from weaning to adulthood in rats.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1998

Effect of 3,5-di-iodo-L-thyronine on the mitochondrial energy-transduction apparatus.

We examined the effect of a single injection of 3,5-di-iodo-L-thyronine (3,5-T2) (150 microg/100 g body weight) on the rat liver mitochondrial energy-transduction apparatus. We applied 'top-down' elasticity analysis, which allows identification of the site of action of an effector within a metabolic pathway. This kinetic approach considers oxidative phosphorylation as two blocks of reactions: those generating the mitochondrial inner-membrane potential (DeltaPsi; 'substrate oxidation') and those 'consuming' it ('proton leak' and 'phosphorylating system'). The results show that 1 h after the injection of 3,5-T2, state 4 (respiratory state in which there is no ATP synthesis and the exogenous ADP added has been exhausted) and state 3 (respiratory state in which ATP synthesis is at maximal rate) of mitochondrial respiration were significantly increased (by approx. 30%). 'Top-down' elasticity analysis revealed that these increases were due to the stimulation of reactions involved in substrate oxidation; neither 'proton leak' nor the 'phosphorylating system' was influenced by 3,5-T2. Using the same approach we divided the respiratory chain into two blocks of reactions: cytochrome c reducers and cytochrome c oxidizers. We found that both cytochrome c reducers and cytochrome c oxidizers are targets for 3,5-T2. The rapidity with which 3,5-T2 acts in stimulating the mitochondrial respiration rate suggests to us that di-iodo-L-thyronine may play an important role in the physiological conditions in which rapid energy utilization is required, such as cold exposure or overfeeding.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

The proton permeability of the inner membrane of liver mitochondria from ectothermic and endothermic vertebrates and from obese rats: correlations with standard metabolic rate and phospholipid fatty acid composition.

We measured the proton leak across the inner membrane of liver mitochondria isolated from six different vertebrate species and from obese and control Zucker rats. Proton leak at 37 degrees C was similar in rat and pigeon, and in obese and control Zucker rats. Compared to rat, it was lower in cane toad, shingleback lizard, and the Madeiran lizard Lacerta dugessi. Proton leak at 20 degrees C was similar in xenopus toad and higher in rainbow trout, compared to rat. In general, proton permeability and substrate oxidation activity were greater in liver mitochondria from endotherms than those from ectotherms. Analysis of this and previous data showed that proton leak per milligram of mitochondrial protein correlated with standard metabolic rate, and proton leak per milligram of inner membrane phospholipid correlated with 11 phospholipid fatty acid compositional parameters, including unsaturation index.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Top-down elasticity analysis and its application to energy metabolism in isolated mitochondria and intact cells.

This paper reviews top-down elasticity analysis, which is a subset of metabolic control analysis. Top-down elasticity analysis provides a systematic yet simple experimental method to identify all the primary sites of action of an effector in complex systems and to distinguish them from all the secondary, indirect, sites of action. In the top-down approach, the complex system (for example, a mitochondrion, cell, organ or organism) is first conceptually divided into a small number of blocks of reactions interconnected by one or more metabolic intermediates. By changing the concentration of one intermediate when all others are held constant and measuring the fluxes through each block of reactions, the overall kinetic response of each block to each intermediate can be established. The concentrations of intermediates can be changed by adding new branches to the system or by manipulating the activities of blocks of reactions whose kinetics are not under investigation. To determine how much an effector alters the overall kinetics of a block of reactions, the overall kinetic response of the block to the intermediate is remeasured in the presence of the effector. Blocks that contain significant primary sites of action will display altered kinetics; blocks that change rate only because of secondary alterations in the concentrations of other metabolites will not. If desired, this elasticity analysis can be repeated with the primary target blocks subdivided into simpler blocks so that the primary sites of action can be defined with more and more precision until, with sufficient subdivision, they are mapped onto individual kinetic steps. Top-down elasticity analysis has been used to identify the targets of effectors of oxygen consumption in mitochondria, hepatocytes and thymocytes. Effectors include poisons such as cadmium and hormones such as triiodothyronine. However, the method is more general than this; in principle it can be applied to any metabolic or other steady-state system.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1997

The proton permeability of liposomes made from mitochondrial inner membrane phospholipids: no effect of fatty acid composition.

The proton permeability of the mitochondrial inner membrane has been shown to correlate with the fatty acid composition of its phospholipids. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the proton permeability of the phospholipid bilayer portion of the membrane depends on phospholipid fatty acid composition. We measured the proton permeability of liposomes made from the mitochondrial inner membrane phospholipids of eight vertebrates, representing a ten-fold range of mitochondrial proton leak and a three fold range of unsaturation index. At a membrane potential (delta psi) of 160 mV at 37 degrees C, the liposomes all had the same proton leak rate, about 30 nmol protons min-1 mg-1 phospholipid. There was no correlation between liposome proton permeability and phospholipid fatty acid composition.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

Methylprednisolone inhibits uptake of Ca2+ and Na+ ions into concanavalin A-stimulated thymocytes.

The glucocorticoid drug methylprednisolone inhibits respiration in concanavalin A-stimulated rat thymocytes at concentrations that are relevant to its acute clinical efficacy against autoimmune diseases and spinal cord injury. Methylprednisolone affects several processes, including ion cycling, substrate oxidation reactions and RNA/DNA synthesis. The inhibition of respiration used to drive ATP-consuming cycles of Ca2+ and Na+ ions across the plasma membrane has been proposed to be either primary or secondary to restriction of cellular ATP supply. By comparing the effects of methylprednisolone with those of myxothiazol, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, we show that the effects of methylprednisolone on Ca2+ and Na+ cycling are primary. We propose that methylprednisolone acts by affecting membrane properties to inhibit Ca2+ and Na+ uptake across the plasma membrane and to increase H+ uptake across the mitochondrial membrane, and that other effects are secondary.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1997

The proton permeability of liposomes made from mitochondrial inner membrane phospholipids: comparison with isolated mitochondria.

Unilamellar liposomes with native phospholipid fatty acid composition were prepared from rat liver mitochondrial inner membrane phospholipids by extrusion in medium containing 50 mm potassium. They were diluted into low potassium medium to establish a transmembrane potassium gradient. A known membrane potential was imposed by addition of valinomycin, and proton flux into liposomes was measured. Valinomycin in the range 10 pm-1nm was sufficient to fully establish membrane potential. Valinomycin concentrations above 3 nm catalyzed additional proton flux and were avoided. At 300 pm valinomycin, proton flux depended nonlinearly on membrane potential. At 160 mV membrane potential the flux was 30 nmol H+/min/mg phospholipid-approximately 5% of the proton leak flux under comparable conditions in isolated mitochondria, indicating that leak pathways through bulk phospholipid bilayer account for only a small proportion of total mitochondrial proton leak.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

The physiological significance of mitochondrial proton leak in animal cells and tissues.

Mitochondrial proton leak is an important component of cellular metabolism in animals and may account for as much as one quarter to one third of the Standard Metabolic Rate of the rat. The activity of the proton leak pathway is different in a wide range of animal species and in different thyroid states. Such differences imply some function for proton leak and candidates for this function include thermogenesis, protection against reactive oxygen species, endowment of metabolic sensitivity and maintenance of carbon fluxes.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

Regulation analysis of energy metabolism.

This paper reviews top-down regulation analysis, a part of metabolic control analysis, and shows how it can be used to analyse steady states, regulation and homeostasis in complex systems such as energy metabolism in mitochondria, cells and tissues. A steady state is maintained by the variables in a system; regulation is the way the steady state is changed by external effectors. We can exploit the properties of the steady state to measure the kinetic responses (elasticities) of reactions to the concentrations of intermediates and effectors. We can reduce the complexity of the system under investigation by grouping reactions into large blocks connected by a small number of explicit intermediates-this is the top-down approach to control analysis. Simple titrations then yield all the values of elasticities and control coefficients within the system. We can use these values to quantify the relative strengths of different internal pathways that act to keep an intermediate or a rate constant in the steady state. We can also use them to quantify the relative strengths of different primary actions of an external effector and the different internal pathways that transmit its effects through the system, to describe regulation and homeostasis. This top-down regulation analysis has been used to analyse steady states of energy metabolism in mitochondria, cells and tissues, and to analyse regulation of energy metabolism by cadmium, an external effector, in mitochondria. The combination of relatively simple experiments and new theoretical structures for presenting and interpreting the results means that top-down regulation analysis provides a novel and effective way to analyse steady states, regulation and homeostasis in intricate metabolic systems.

Animal Population Groups↗

PubMed1996

The effect of chloroform on mitochondrial energy transduction.

The effect of chloroform on mitochondrial respiration with succinate was investigated by applying the method of Brand, Chien and Diolez [(1994) Biochem. J. 297, 27-29] to examine whether chloroform causes redox slip (fewer protons pumped per electron transferred) during mitochondrial electron transport. N,N,N',N'-Tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD), which lowers H+/O (the number of protons pumped to the external medium by the electron transport complexes per oxygen atom consumed) by altering the electron flow pathway, was investigated for comparison. Non-phosphorylating mitochondria that had been treated with 350 microM TMPD or 30 mM chloroform were titrated with malonate in the presence of submaximal concentrations of the uncoupler carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP). Linear relations between CCCP-induced extra respiration and protonmotive force were obtained. These results showed that there was no measurable protonmotive force-dependent or rate-dependent slip in mitochondria treated with either TMPD or chloroform. However, both TMPD and chloroform seemed to decrease H+/O in a manner independent of protonmotive force and rate. The relationship between non-phosphorylating respiration and protonmotive force was simulated in mitochondria of which 25% of the total population were assumed to have been broken. The simulation showed that the apparent decrease in H+/O on the addition of TMPD or chloroform to mitochondria could be in principle accounted for by breakage. Assays of mitochondrial breakage (ATP hydrolysis in the presence of atractyloside and oxidation of exogenous NADH) showed that chloroform broke mitochondria but TMPD did not. We conclude that chloroform changes the measured H+/O as an artifact by causing mitochondrial breakage and does not cause measurable redox slip, whereas TMPD genuinely lowers H+/O.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

PubMed1996

Top down metabolic control analysis.

In the top down approach to metabolic control analysis, reactions are grouped together into a few large blocks connected by a small number of intermediates. Control is analysed by adding inhibitor or activators that work within single blocks and measuring intermediates and fluxes, or by adding new branches and measuring changes in flux. The approach is experimentally and conceptually simple, and provides a complete but coarse description of control in complex metabolic systems that are not easily accessible using other approaches. This paper gives an overview of the method, its equations and their derivations. It discusses the ways the approach has been used in organelles and cells to identify the sites of action of effectors, to measure the distribution of control by blocks of reactions, and to measure regulation by effectors.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Proton leak and control of oxidative phosphorylation in perfused, resting rat skeletal muscle.

The distribution of control over the resting respiration rate (and other variables) was assessed in perfused rat skeletal muscle. The results indicate that the general pattern of control in resting muscle is similar to that seen in isolated rat liver cells (Brown et al. (1990) Biochem. J. 192, 355-362). Control over resting mitochondrial oxygen consumption was distributed between reactions involved in substrate oxidation (flux control coefficient = 0.44 +/- 0.28) and those involved in ATP turnover (0.21 +/- 0.09). The mitochondrial proton leak also had an important share of the control (0.38 +/- 0.21). Since proton leak also has significant control over the resting respiration rate of isolated liver cells and liver and skeletal muscle account for around 60% of the standard metabolic rate of a rat, then these results indicate the potential importance of proton leak as a mechanism of regulating metabolic rate.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Relationship between membrane potential and respiration rate in isolated liver mitochondria from rats fed an energy dense diet.

We studied the relationship between membrane potential and respiration rate in isolated liver mitochondria from rats fed an energy dense diet. We conceptually divided the system into blocks of reactions that produced or consumed mitochondrial membrane potential and then measured the kinetic response of these blocks of reactions to this potential using NAD-linked and FAD-linked substrates. We show that decreased respiration rate with an NAD-linked substrate is accounted for by decreased kinetic response of the substrate oxidation pathway to the potential. No variation in the kinetic response of the above blocks of reactions to the potential was found using an FAD-linked substrate. These results indicate that FAD-linked and NAD-linked pathways are differently affected in rats fed an energy dense diet.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗

PubMed1996

Contribution of mitochondrial proton leak to skeletal muscle respiration and to standard metabolic rate.

We have tested the hypothesis that the leak of protons across the mitochondrial inner membrane (proton leak) is a significant contributor to standard metabolic rate (SMR). We found that proton leak accounts for around one-half of the resting respiration rate of perfused rat skeletal muscle. Proton leak is known to make a significant (26%) contribution to the resting respiration rate of isolated rat hepatocytes (M. D. Brand, L.-F. Chien, E. K. Ainscow, D. F. S. Rolfe, and R. K. Porter. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1187: 132-139, 1994). If the importance of proton leak in these isolated and perfused systems is similar to its importance in vivo, then using literature values for the contribution of liver and skeletal muscle to SMR, we can calculate that proton leak in liver and skeletal muscle alone accounts for 11-26% (mean 20%) of the SMR of the rat. If proton leak activity in the other tissues of the rat is similar to that in liver cells, then the contribution of proton leak to rat SMR would be 16-31% (mean 25%).

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1996

Allometry of mitochondrial proton leak: influence of membrane surface area and fatty acid composition.

We investigated why liver mitochondria from small mammals are leakier to protons than those from larger mammals. Sixty-nine percent (+/-23%) of the proton leak differences appeared to relate to membrane area (less inner membrane surface area in larger animals); any residual differences must reflect differences in membrane properties. There were differences in phospholipid fatty acid composition; unsaturation index, monounsaturates, palmitate (16:0), stearate (18:0), docosahexaenoate [22:6(n-3)], and the 22:6(n-3)/22:5(n-3) ratio all correlated with body mass. Proton flux per square centimeter did not correlate significantly with body mass or, in general, with phospholipid fatty acid composition, suggesting little role for fatty acid composition in determining proton leak in mammals of different body mass. However, unsaturation index and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content correlated significantly with proton leak per milligram phospholipid when literature data from reptiles and rats in different thyroid states were included, giving some support to suggestions of a general role for phospholipid fatty acid composition in determining mitochondrial proton leak.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Control and kinetic analysis of ischemia-damaged heart mitochondria: which parts of the oxidative phosphorylation system are affected by ischemia?

We investigated the effects of ischemia on the kinetics and control of mitochondria isolated from normal and ischemic heart. The dependence of the respiratory chain, phosphorylation system and proton leak on the mitochondrial membrane potential were measured in mitochondria from hearts after 0, 30 min and 45 min of in vitro ischemia. Data showed that during the development of ischemia from the reversible (30 min) to the irreversible (45 min) phase, a progressive decrease in activity of the respiratory chain occurs. At the same time an increase in proton leak across the mitochondrial inner membrane was observed. Phosphorylation is inhibited but seems to be less affected by ischemia than respiratory chain or proton leak. Control coefficients of the 3 blocks of reactions over respiration rate were determined in different respiratory states between state 4 and state 3. Ischemia caused the control exerted by the proton leak to increase in state 3 and the intermediate state and caused the control by the phosphorylation system to decrease in the intermediate state. Taken together, these results indicate that the main effects of ischemia on mitochondrial respiration are an inhibition of the respiratory chain and an increase of the proton leak.

Animals↗