Tag Archives: Ca(2+)-transport
Functional activity of permeability transition pore in energized and deenergized rat liver mitochondria
O. V. Akopova*, L. I. Kolchinskaya, V. I. Nosar
Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv;
*e-mail: ov_akopova@ukr.net
Received: 15 June 2020; Accepted: 13 November 2020
Permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening was studied under energized and deenergized conditions in rat liver mitochondria, and the effect of membrane depolarization on mPTP activity was evaluated. To assess mPTP activity, cyclosporine-sensitive swelling and cyclosporine sensitive Ca2+ efflux from mitochondria was studied using light absorbance techniques. In energized mitochondria, mPTP opening in sub-conductance states, at [Ca2+] ≤ Ka, contributed positively to the rate of respiration, without affecting ΔΨm. Threshold Ca2+ concentrations were found, which excess resulted in fast mitochondrial depolarization upon mPTP opening. An estimate of mPTP activity by cyclosporine-sensitive Ca2+ transport under energized and deenergized conditions have shown that membrane depolarization by protonophore CCCP essentially increased initial rate (V0), at simultaneous decrease of the half-time (t1/2) of Ca2+ efflux, which indicated mPTP activation, as compared to energized mitochondria. However, only partial release of Ca2+ via mPTP upon membrane depolarization was observed. With the use of selective blockers of Ca2+ uniporter and mPTP, ruthenium red (RR) and cyclosporine A (CsA), partial contribution of Ca2+ uniporter and mPTP in Ca2+ transport was found. “Titration” of Ca2+ transport by adding RR at different times from the onset of depolarization showed that depolarization dramatically reduced “life span” of mPTP as compared to energized mitochondria, which agreed with the kinetic characteristics of CsA-sensitive Ca2+ transport after the abolition of ΔΨm. Ca2+ added from the outer side of mitochondrial membrane produced dual effect on mPTP activity: activation at the onset of depolarization, but consequent promotion of mPTP closure. Based on the experiments, it was concluded that mitochondrial energization was required for prolonged mPTP functioning in sub-conductance states, whereas membrane depolarization promoted the transition of mPTP to inactive state during calcium release from mitochondria.
The reconstruction of ionic channels created by protein neurotoxins int bilayer lipid membranes as a research tool for exocytosis processes
О. Ya. Shatursky
Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv;
e-mail: olegshatursky@biochem.kiev.ua
The direct transport of inorganic ions and much highly organized biomolecules across native membranes by the specific membrane proteins – ionic channels provides the functioning of a number of important biochemical processes like depolarization, Ca2+-release and exocytosis in nerve or muscle cells at the synaptic transmission. Therefore, the investigation of the structure and ion-conducting properties for neurotoxin channels and different factors affecting channels themselves and neuro-muscular transmission plays an important role in the research of pathologies that appear in intoxicated nerve tissues. As the massive release of neurotransmitters resulting from toxin-induced increase in Ca2+-permeability of the nerve endings occurs after the interaction of pore-forming neurotoxins α-latrotoxin, α- and δ-latroinsectotoxin from black widow spider venom with the specific receptors located on plasma membrane of the vertebrate or invertebrate nerve cells most attention in the review is paid to the reconstitution of above toxins channels. The part the pore-forming proteins reconstruction research takes to determine the exocytosis regulation endogenous cell proteins may participate has been observed on the example of latrotoxin-like L-protein from bovine brain nerve cells cytoplasm capable of binding with antibodies against α-latrotoxin.