title: Repetitive nerve stimulation transiently opens the mitochondrial permeability transition pore in motor nerve terminals of symptomatic mutant SOD1 mice.
abstract: Mitochondria in motor nerve terminals temporarily sequester large Ca(2+) loads during repetitive stimulation. In wild-type mice this Ca(2+) uptake produces a small (<5 mV), transient depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Ψ(m), motor nerve stimulated at 100 Hz for 5s). We demonstrate that this stimulation-induced Ψ(m) depolarization attains much higher amplitudes in motor terminals of symptomatic mice expressing the G93A or G85R mutation of human superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), models of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS). These large Ψ(m) depolarizations decayed slowly and incremented with successive stimulus trains. Additional Ψ(m) depolarizations occurred that were not synchronized with stimulation. These large Ψ(m) depolarizations were reduced (a) by cyclosporin A (CsA, 1-2 μM), which inhibits opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP), or (b) by replacing bath Ca(2+) with Sr(2+), which enters motor terminals and mitochondria but does not support mPTP opening. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the large Ψ(m) depolarizations evoked by repetitive stimulation in motor terminals of symptomatic fALS mice result from mitochondrial dysfunction that increases the likelihood of transient mPTP opening during Ca(2+) influx. Such mPTP openings, a sign of mitochondrial stress, would disrupt motor terminal handling of Ca(2+) loads and might thereby contribute to motor terminal degeneration in fALS mice. Ψ(m) depolarizations resembling those in symptomatic fALS mice could be elicited in wild-type mice following a 0.5-1h exposure to diamide (200 μM), which produces an oxidative stress, but these depolarizations were not reduced by CsA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, PO Box 016430, Miami, FL 33101, USA.
authors.forename: Khanh T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: John N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: García-Chacón
authors.forename: Gavriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Ellen F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Barrett
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D033681:Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000083162:Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000378:metabolism; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000378:metabolism*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000072105:Superoxide Dismutase-1
chemical_list: D033681:Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins; D000083162:Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore; C000606290:SOD1 protein, human; C000606291:Sod1 protein, mouse; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D000072105:Superoxide Dismutase-1