title: Characterization of mitochondrial iron uptake in HepG2 cells.
abstract: There is increasing evidence that accumulation of redox-active iron in mitochondria leads to oxidative damage and contributes to various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Friedreich's ataxia and Parkinsons disease. In this work, we examined the existence of regulatory mechanisms for mitochondrial iron uptake and storage. To that end, we used rhodamine B-[(1,10-phenanthrolin-5-yl)amino carbonyl] benzyl ester, a new fluorescent iron-sensitive probe that is targeted specifically to the mitochondrion. We found that extracellular iron was incorporated readily into mitochondria in an apparently saturable process. Moreover, the rate of iron incorporation responded to the Fe status of the cell, an indication that the mitochondrion actively regulates its iron content.
authors.affiliation: PhD Program in Cell, Molecular and Neural Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Department of Biology, Santiago, dimazari@icaro.dic.uchile.cl
authors.forename: Dora Inés
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Mazariegos
authors.forename: Z Ioav
authors.initials: ZI
authors.lastname: Cabantchik
authors.forename: Bruce K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Cassels
authors.forename: Marco Tulio
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Núñez
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D012235:Rhodamines; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D012235:Rhodamines; C449922:rhodamine B-((1,10-phenanthrolin-5-yl)aminocarbonyl)benzyl ester; D007501:Iron