title: Pyruvate modifies glycolytic and oxidative metabolism of rat embryonic spinal cord astrocyte cell lines and prevents their spontaneous transformation.
abstract: This study aimed to provide detailed data on mitochondrial respiration of normal astrocyte cell lines derived from rat embryonic spinal cord. Astrocytes in early passages (EP), cultured without pyruvate for more than 35 passages, defined here as late passages (LP), undergo spontaneous transformation. To study initial steps in cell transformation, EP data were compared with those of LP cells. LP cells had reduced glycolysis, fewer mitochondria and extremely low oxidative rates, resulting from a dysfunction of complexes I and II + III of the respiratory chain. Treatment of EP cells with pyruvate until they were, by definition, LP cultures prevented transformation of these cells. Pyruvate-treated EP cells had more mitochondria than normal cells but slightly lower respiratory rates. The increase of mitochondrial content thus appears to act as a compensatory effect to maintain oxidative phosphorylation in these LP 'non-transformed' cells, in which mitochondrial function is reduced. However, pyruvate treatment of transformed LP cells during additional passages did not significantly restore their oxidative metabolism. These data highlight changes accompanying spontaneous astrocyte transformation and suggest potential targets for the control of astrocyte proliferation and reaction to various insults to the central nervous system.
authors.affiliation: Service d'Anatomie et Cytologie Pathologique, Hôpital Lapeyronie, Montpellier, France. c-rouleau_dubois@chu-montpellier.fr
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.forename: Clovis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rakotoarivelo
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Petite
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fabre
authors.forename: Andrée
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonardet
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baldet
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Privat
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Langley
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mersel
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D045222:Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D006019:Glycolysis / Q000187:drug effects*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000187:drug effects; D019289:Pyruvic Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D045222:Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins; D019289:Pyruvic Acid