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The effect of aging and an oxidative stress on peroxide levels and the mitochondrial membrane potential in isolated rat hepatocytes
Author(s) -
Cavazzoni Marika,
Barogi Silvia,
Baracca Alessandra,
Parenti Castelli Giovanna,
Lenaz Giorgio
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(99)00400-7
Subject(s) - oxidative stress , mitochondrion , oxidative phosphorylation , membrane potential , chemistry , peroxide , inner mitochondrial membrane , microbiology and biotechnology , reactive oxygen species , hydrogen peroxide , biophysics , biochemistry , biology , organic chemistry
We have investigated the effect of ageing and of adriamycin treatment on the bioenergetics of isolated rat hepatocytes. Ageing per se, whilst being associated with a striking increase of hydrogen peroxide in the cells, induces only minor changes on the mitochondrial membrane potential. The adriamycin treatment induces a decrease of the mitochondrial membrane potential in situ and a consistent increase of the superoxide anion cellular content independently of the donor age. The hydrogen peroxide is significantly increased in both aged and adult rat hepatocytes, however, due to the high basal level in the aged cells, it is higher in aged rat cells not subjected to oxidative stress than that elicited by 50 μM adriamycin in young rat hepatocytes. The results suggest that a hydrogen peroxide increase in hepatocytes of aged rats is unable to induce major modifications of mitochondrial bioenergetics. This contrasts with the damaging effect of adriamycin, suggesting that the effects of the drug may be due to the concomitant high level of both superoxide and hydrogen peroxide.