title: Inhibitory effects of adenine nucleotides on brain mitochondrial permeability transition.
abstract: The adenine nucleotides ADP and ATP are probably the most important endogenous inhibitors of the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT). We studied the inhibitory effects of adenine nucleotides on brain MPT by measuring mitochondrial swelling and Ca(2+) and cytochrome c release. We observed that in the presence of either ADP or ATP, at 250 μM, brain mitochondria accumulated more than 1 μmol Ca(2+) × mg protein(-1). ADP or ATP also prevented Ca(2+)-induced mitochondrial swelling and cytochrome c release. Interestingly, ATP lost most of its inhibitory effects on MPT when the experiments were carried out in the presence of ATP-regenerating systems. These results indicate that MPT inhibition observed in the presence of added ATP could be mainly due to hydrolysis of ATP to ADP. From mitochondrial swelling measurements, half-maximal inhibitory values (K(i)) of 4.5 and 98 μM were obtained for ADP and ATP, respectively. In addition, a delayed mitochondrial swelling sensitive to higher ADP concentrations was observed. Mitochondrial anoxia/reoxygenation did not interfere with the inhibitory effect of ADP on Ca(2+)-induced MPT, but oxidative phosphorylation markedly decreased this effect. We conclude that ADP is a potent inhibitor of brain MPT whereas ATP is a weaker inhibitor of this phenomenon. Our results suggest that ADP can have an important protective role against MPT-mediated tissue damage under conditions of brain ischemia and hypoglycemia.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patologia Clínica, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Roger F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Castilho
mesh_terms: D000244:Adenosine Diphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects*; D008933:Mitochondrial Swelling / Q000187:drug effects*; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D000244:Adenosine Diphosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D045304:Cytochromes c; D002118:Calcium