bims-mimcad 2024-04-28 papers

bims-mimcad

Biomed News

on Mitochondrial metabolism and cardiometabolic diseases

Issue of 2024–04–28
nine papers selected by
Henver Brunetta, University of Guelph

Inhibitory regulation of FoxO1 in PPARδ expression drives mitochondria dysfunction and insulin resistance.
Mitofusin-mediated contacts between mitochondria and peroxisomes regulate mitochondrial fusion.
Sedentary behavior in mice induces metabolic inflexibility by suppressing skeletal muscle pyruvate metabolism.
BCAA-nitrogen flux in brown fat controls metabolic health independent of thermogenesis.
Smoking cessation only partially reverses cardiac metabolic and structural remodeling in mice.
Differential sex-dependent susceptibility to diastolic dysfunction and arrhythmia in cardiomyocytes from obese diabetic HFpEF model.
Aberrant expression of thyroidal hormone receptor α exasperating mitochondrial dysfunction induced sarcopenia in aged mice.
Exercise-induced increase in muscle insulin sensitivity in men is amplified when assessed using a meal test.
KDM8 epigenetically controls cardiac metabolism to prevent initiation of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Diabetes. 2024 Apr 24. pii: db230432. [Epub ahead of print]

Inhibitory regulation of FoxO1 in PPARδ expression drives mitochondria dysfunction and insulin resistance.

Soyoung Park, Hye-Na Cha, Min-Gyeong Shin, Sanghee Park, Yeongmin Kim, Min-Seob Kim, Kyung-Hoon Shin, Themis Thoudam, Eun Ju Lee, Robert R Wolfe, Jinmyoung Dan, Jin-Ho Koh, Il-Young Kim, Inho Choi, In-Kyu Lee, Hoon-Ki Sung, So-Young Park.

Forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) regulates muscle growth, but the metabolic role of FoxO1 in skeletal muscle and its mechanisms remain unclear. To explore the metabolic role of FoxO1 in skeletal muscle, we generated skeletal muscle-specific FoxO1 inducible knockout (mFoxO1 iKO) mice and fed them a high-fat diet to induce obesity. We measured insulin sensitivity, fatty acid oxidation, mitochondrial function, and exercise capacity in obese mFoxO1 iKO mice, and assessed the correlation between FoxO1 and mitochondrial-related protein in the skeletal muscle of diabetic patients. Obese mFoxO1 iKO mice exhibited improved mitochondrial respiratory capacity, which was followed by attenuated insulin resistance, enhanced fatty acid oxidation, and improved skeletal muscle exercise capacity. Transcriptional inhibition of FoxO1 in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ (PPARδ) expression was confirmed in skeletal muscle and deletion of PPARδ abolished the beneficial effects of FoxO1 deficiency. FoxO1 protein levels were higher in the skeletal muscle of diabetic patients and negatively correlated with PPARδ and electron transport chain protein levels. These findings highlight FoxO1 as a new repressor in PPARδ gene expression in skeletal muscle and suggest that FoxO1 links insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle via PPARδ.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2337/db23-0432
PLoS Biol. 2024 Apr 26. 22(4): e3002602

Mitofusin-mediated contacts between mitochondria and peroxisomes regulate mitochondrial fusion.

Cynthia Alsayyah, Manish K Singh, Maria Angeles Morcillo-Parra, Laetitia Cavellini, Nadav Shai, Christine Schmitt, Maya Schuldiner, Einat Zalckvar, Adeline Mallet, Naïma Belgareh-Touzé, Christophe Zimmer, Mickaël M Cohen.

Mitofusins are large GTPases that trigger fusion of mitochondrial outer membranes. Similarly to the human mitofusin Mfn2, which also tethers mitochondria to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the yeast mitofusin Fzo1 stimulates contacts between Peroxisomes and Mitochondria when overexpressed. Yet, the physiological significance and function of these "PerMit" contacts remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that Fzo1 naturally localizes to peroxisomes and promotes PerMit contacts in physiological conditions. These contacts are regulated through co-modulation of Fzo1 levels by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and by the desaturation status of fatty acids (FAs). Contacts decrease under low FA desaturation but reach a maximum during high FA desaturation. High-throughput genetic screening combined with high-resolution cellular imaging reveal that Fzo1-mediated PerMit contacts favor the transit of peroxisomal citrate into mitochondria. In turn, citrate enters the TCA cycle to stimulate the mitochondrial membrane potential and maintain efficient mitochondrial fusion upon high FA desaturation. These findings thus unravel a mechanism by which inter-organelle contacts safeguard mitochondrial fusion.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002602
J Clin Invest. 2024 Apr 23. pii: e167371. [Epub ahead of print]

Sedentary behavior in mice induces metabolic inflexibility by suppressing skeletal muscle pyruvate metabolism.

Piyarat Siripoksup, Guoshen Cao, Ahmad A Cluntun, J Alan Maschek, Quentinn Pearce, Marisa J Lang, Mi-Young Jeong, Hiroaki Eshima, Patrick J Ferrara, Precious C Opurum, Ziad S Mahmassani, Alek D Peterlin, Shinya Watanabe, Maureen A Walsh, Eric B Taylor, James E Cox, Micah J Drummond, Jared Rutter, Katsuhiko Funai.

  Carbohydrates and lipids provide the majority of substrates to fuel mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Metabolic inflexibility, defined as an impaired ability to switch between these fuels, is implicated in a number of metabolic diseases. Here we explore the mechanism by which physical inactivity promotes metabolic inflexibility in skeletal muscle. We developed a mouse model of sedentariness, small mouse cage (SMC) that, unlike other classic models of disuse in mice, faithfully recapitulated metabolic responses that occur in humans. Bioenergetic phenotyping of skeletal muscle mitochondria displayed metabolic inflexibility induced by physical inactivity, demonstrated by a reduction in pyruvate-stimulated respiration (JO2) in absence of a change in palmitate-stimulated JO2. Pyruvate resistance in these mitochondria was likely driven by a decrease in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) abundance in the mitochondrial membrane. Reduction in mitochondrial PE by heterozygous deletion of phosphatidylserine decarboxylase (PSD) was sufficient to induce metabolic inflexibility measured at the whole-body level, as well as at the level of skeletal muscle mitochondria. Low mitochondrial PE in C2C12 myotubes was sufficient to increase glucose flux towards lactate. We further implicate that resistance to pyruvate metabolism is due to attenuated mitochondrial entry via mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC). These findings suggest a mechanism by which mitochondrial PE directly regulates MPC activity to modulate metabolic flexibility in mice.

Keywords:  Metabolism; Mitochondria; Skeletal muscle

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI167371
Cell. 2024 Apr 17. pii: S0092-8674(24)00346-5. [Epub ahead of print]

BCAA-nitrogen flux in brown fat controls metabolic health independent of thermogenesis.

Anthony R P Verkerke, Dandan Wang, Naofumi Yoshida, Zachary H Taxin, Xu Shi, Shuning Zheng, Yuka Li, Christopher Auger, Satoshi Oikawa, Jin-Seon Yook, Melia Granath-Panelo, Wentao He, Guo-Fang Zhang, Mami Matsushita, Masayuki Saito, Robert E Gerszten, Evanna L Mills, Alexander S Banks, Yasushi Ishihama, Phillip J White, Robert W McGarrah, Takeshi Yoneshiro, Shingo Kajimura.

  Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is best known for thermogenesis. Rodent studies demonstrated that enhanced BAT thermogenesis is tightly associated with increased energy expenditure, reduced body weight, and improved glucose homeostasis. However, human BAT is protective against type 2 diabetes, independent of body weight. The mechanism underlying this dissociation remains unclear. Here, we report that impaired mitochondrial catabolism of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in BAT, by deleting mitochondrial BCAA carriers (MBCs), caused systemic insulin resistance without affecting energy expenditure and body weight. Brown adipocytes catabolized BCAA in the mitochondria as nitrogen donors for the biosynthesis of non-essential amino acids and glutathione. Impaired mitochondrial BCAA-nitrogen flux in BAT resulted in increased oxidative stress, decreased hepatic insulin signaling, and decreased circulating BCAA-derived metabolites. A high-fat diet attenuated BCAA-nitrogen flux and metabolite synthesis in BAT, whereas cold-activated BAT enhanced the synthesis. This work uncovers a metabolite-mediated pathway through which BAT controls metabolic health beyond thermogenesis.

Keywords:  amino acid metabolism; bioenergetics; brown adipose tissue; diabetes; glucose homeostasis; insulin resistance; inter-organ communication; mitochondria; thermogenesis

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.030
Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2024 Apr 22. e14145

Smoking cessation only partially reverses cardiac metabolic and structural remodeling in mice.

Jekaterina Aid, Ajime Tom Tanjeko, Jef Serré, Moritz Eggelbusch, Wendy Noort, Gerard M J de Wit, Michel van Weeghel, Marju Puurand, Kersti Tepp, Ghislaine Gayan-Ramirez, Hans Degens, Tuuli Käämbre, Rob C I Wüst.

   AIMS: Active cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that remains elevated after cessation. Skeletal muscle dysfunction has been well documented after smoking, but little is known about cardiac adaptations to cigarette smoking. The underlying cellular and molecular cardiac adaptations, independent of confounding lifestyle factors, and time course of reversibility by smoking cessation remain unclear. We hypothesized that smoking negatively affects cardiac metabolism and induces local inflammation in mice, which do not readily reverse upon 2-week smoking cessation.
METHODS: Mice were exposed to air or cigarette smoke for 14 weeks with or without 1- or 2-week smoke cessation. We measured cardiac mitochondrial respiration by high-resolution respirometry, cardiac mitochondrial density, abundance of mitochondrial supercomplexes by electrophoresis, and capillarization, fibrosis, and macrophage infiltration by immunohistology, and performed cardiac metabolome and lipidome analysis by mass spectrometry.
RESULTS: Mitochondrial protein, supercomplex content, and respiration (all p < 0.03) were lower after smoking, which were largely reversed within 2-week smoking cessation. Metabolome and lipidome analyses revealed alterations in mitochondrial metabolism, a shift from fatty acid to glucose metabolism, which did not revert to control upon smoking cessation. Capillary density was not different after smoking but increased after smoking cessation (p = 0.02). Macrophage infiltration and fibrosis (p < 0.04) were higher after smoking but did not revert to control upon smoking cessation.
CONCLUSIONS: While cigarette-impaired smoking-induced cardiac mitochondrial function was reversed by smoking cessation, the remaining fibrosis and macrophage infiltration may contribute to the increased risk of cardiovascular events after smoking cessation.

Keywords:  cardiac metabolism; cardiac remodeling; fibrosis; inflammation; macrophages; smoking cessation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/apha.14145
Cardiovasc Res. 2024 Apr 26. pii: cvae070. [Epub ahead of print]

Differential sex-dependent susceptibility to diastolic dysfunction and arrhythmia in cardiomyocytes from obese diabetic HFpEF model.

Juliana Mira Hernandez, Erin Y Shen, Christopher Y Ko, Zaynab Hourani, Emily R Spencer, Daria Smoliarchuk, Julie Bossuyt, Henk Granzier, Donald M Bers, Bence Hegyi.

   AIM: Sex-differences in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are important, but key mechanisms involved are incompletely understood. While animal models can inform about sex-dependent cellular and molecular changes, many previous preclinical HFpEF models have failed to recapitulate sex-dependent characteristics of human HFpEF. We tested for sex-differences in HFpEF using a two-hit mouse model (leptin receptor-deficient db/db mice plus aldosterone infusion for 4 weeks; db/db+Aldo).
METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed echocardiography, electrophysiology, intracellular Ca2+ imaging, and protein analysis. Female HFpEF mice exhibited more severe diastolic dysfunction in line with increased titin N2B isoform expression and PEVK element phosphorylation, and reduced troponin-I phosphorylation. Female HFpEF mice had lower BNP levels than males despite similar comorbidity burden (obesity, diabetes) and cardiac hypertrophy in both sexes. Male HFpEF mice were more susceptible to cardiac alternans. Male HFpEF cardiomyocytes (versus female) exhibited higher diastolic [Ca2+], slower Ca2+ transient decay, reduced L-type Ca2+ current, more pronounced enhancement of the late Na+ current, and increased short-term variability of action potential duration (APD). However, male and female HFpEF myocytes showed similar downregulation of inward rectifier and transient outward K+ currents, APD prolongation, and frequency of delayed afterdepolarizations. Inhibition of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) reversed all pathological APD changes in HFpEF in both sexes, and empagliflozin pretreatment mimicked these effects of CaMKII inhibition. Vericiguat had only slight benefits, and these effects were larger in HFpEF females.
CONCLUSION: We conclude that the db/db+Aldo preclinical HFpEF murine model recapitulates key sex-specific mechanisms in HFpEF and provides mechanistic insights into impaired excitation-contraction coupling and sex-dependent differential arrhythmia susceptibility in HFpEF with potential therapeutic implications. In male HFpEF myocytes, altered Ca2+ handling and electrophysiology aligned with diastolic dysfunction and arrhythmias, while worse diastolic dysfunction in females may depend more on altered myofilaments properties.

Keywords:  Arrhythmia; CaMKII; Diastolic dysfunction; HFpEF; Sex-differences

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvae070
Aging (Albany NY). 2024 Apr 18. 16

Aberrant expression of thyroidal hormone receptor α exasperating mitochondrial dysfunction induced sarcopenia in aged mice.

Yunlu Sheng, Xiaoxia Zhu, Lijun Wei, Yuxin Zou, Xinyu Qi, Runqing Shi, Wenli Xu, Xiaodong Wang, Guoxian Ding, Yu Duan.

  Disrupted mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy contribute to functional deterioration of skeletal muscle (SM) during aging, but the regulatory mechanisms are poorly understood. Our previous study demonstrated that the expression of thyroid hormone receptor α (TRα) decreased significantly in aged mice, suggesting that the alteration of thyroidal elements, especially the decreased TRα, might attenuate local THs action thus to cause the degeneration of SM with aging, while the underlying mechanism remains to be further explored. In this study, decreased expression of myogenic regulators Myf5, MyoD1, mitophagy markers Pink1, LC3II/I, p62, as well as mitochondrial dynamic factors Mfn1 and Opa1, accompanied by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), showed concomitant changes with reduced TRα expression in aged mice. Further TRα loss- and gain-of-function studies in C2C12 revealed that silencing of TRα not only down-regulated the expression of above-mentioned myogenic regulators, mitophagy markers and mitochondrial dynamic factors, but also led to a significant decrease in mitochondrial activity and maximum respiratory capacity, as well as more mitochondrial ROS and damaged mitochondria. Notedly, overexpression of TRα could up-regulate the expression of those myogenic regulators, mitophagy markers and mitochondrial dynamic factors, meanwhile also led to an increase in mitochondrial activity and number. These results confirmed that TRα could concertedly regulate mitochondrial dynamics, autophagy, and activity, and myogenic regulators rhythmically altered with TRα expression. Summarily, these results suggested that the decline of TRα might cause the degeneration of SM with aging by regulating mitochondrial dynamics, mitophagy and myogenesis.

Keywords:  aging mice; mitochondrial dysfunction; mitophagy; skeletal muscles; thyroid hormone receptor α

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205748
Diabetologia. 2024 Apr 25.

Exercise-induced increase in muscle insulin sensitivity in men is amplified when assessed using a meal test.

Christian T Voldstedlund, Kim A Sjøberg, Farina L Schlabs, Casper M Sigvardsen, Nicoline R Andersen, Jens J Holst, Bolette Hartmann, Jørgen F P Wojtaszewski, Bente Kiens, Glenn K McConell, Erik A Richter.

   AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Exercise has a profound effect on insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle. The euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp (EHC) is the gold standard for assessment of insulin sensitivity but it does not reflect the hyperglycaemia that occurs after eating a meal. In previous EHC investigations, it has been shown that the interstitial glucose concentration in muscle is decreased to a larger extent in previously exercised muscle than in rested muscle. This suggests that previously exercised muscle may increase its glucose uptake more than rested muscle if glucose supply is increased by hyperglycaemia. Therefore, we hypothesised that the exercise-induced increase in muscle insulin sensitivity would appear greater after eating a meal than previously observed with the EHC.
METHODS: Ten recreationally active men performed dynamic one-legged knee extensor exercise for 1 h. Following this, both femoral veins and one femoral artery were cannulated. Subsequently, 4 h after exercise, a solid meal followed by two liquid meals were ingested over 1 h and glucose uptake in the two legs was measured for 3 h. Muscle biopsies from both legs were obtained before the meal test and 90 min after the meal test was initiated. Data obtained in previous studies using the EHC (n=106 participants from 13 EHC studies) were used for comparison with the meal-test data obtained in this study.
RESULTS: Plasma glucose and insulin peaked 45 min after initiation of the meal test. Following the meal test, leg glucose uptake and glucose clearance increased twice as much in the exercised leg than in the rested leg; this difference is twice as big as that observed in previous investigations using EHCs. Glucose uptake in the rested leg plateaued after 15 min, alongside elevated muscle glucose 6-phosphate levels, suggestive of compromised muscle glucose metabolism. In contrast, glucose uptake in the exercised leg plateaued 45 min after initiation of the meal test and there were no signs of compromised glucose metabolism. Phosphorylation of the TBC1 domain family member 4 (TBC1D4; p-TBC1D4Ser704) and glycogen synthase activity were greater in the exercised leg compared with the rested leg. Muscle interstitial glucose concentration increased with ingestion of meals, although it was 16% lower in the exercised leg than in the rested leg.
CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Hyperglycaemia after meal ingestion results in larger differences in muscle glucose uptake between rested and exercised muscle than previously observed during EHCs. These findings indicate that the ability of exercise to increase insulin-stimulated muscle glucose uptake is even greater when evaluated with a meal test than has previously been shown with EHCs.

Keywords:  Exercise; Food intake; Insulin sensitivity; Interstitial glucose; Meals; Microdialysis

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-024-06148-x
Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2023 ;2(2): 174-191

KDM8 epigenetically controls cardiac metabolism to prevent initiation of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Abdalla Ahmed, Jibran Nehal Syed, Lijun Chi, Yaxu Wang, Carmina Perez-Romero, Dorothy Lee, Etri Kocaqi, Amalia Caballero, Jielin Yang, Quetzalcoatl Escalante-Covarrubias, Akihiko Ishimura, Takeshi Suzuki, Lorena Aguilar-Arnal, Gerard Bryan Gonzales, Kyoung-Han Kim, Paul Delgado-Olguín.

  Cardiac metabolism is deranged in heart failure, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we show that lysine demethylase 8 (Kdm8) maintains an active mitochondrial gene network by repressing Tbx15, thus preventing dilated cardiomyopathy leading to lethal heart failure. Deletion of Kdm8 in mouse cardiomyocytes increased H3K36me2 with activation of Tbx15 and repression of target genes in the NAD+ pathway before dilated cardiomyopathy initiated. NAD+ supplementation prevented dilated cardiomyopathy in Kdm8 mutant mice, and TBX15 overexpression blunted NAD+-activated cardiomyocyte respiration. Furthermore, KDM8 was downregulated in human hearts affected by dilated cardiomyopathy, and higher TBX15 expression defines a subgroup of affected hearts with the strongest downregulation of genes encoding mitochondrial proteins. Thus, KDM8 represses TBX15 to maintain cardiac metabolism. Our results suggest that epigenetic dysregulation of metabolic gene networks initiates myocardium deterioration toward heart failure and could underlie heterogeneity of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Keywords:  Gene expression analysis; Heart failure; Histone post-translational modifications; Metabolism

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-023-00214-0