• Nadezda Apostolova, Remedios Garcia-Bou, Antonio Hernandez-Mijares, Raul Herance, Milagros Rocha, and Victor M Victor.
• Department of Pharmacology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
• Pharm. Res. 2011 Nov 1; 28 (11): 2910-9.

PurposeMitochondrial dysfunction plays a key role in sepsis.MethodsWe used a sepsis model of human endothelial cells (HUVEC) to study mitochondrial function during normoxic (21% O(2)) and hypoxic (1% O(2)) conditions.ResultsWhen stimulated with a LPS cocktail, HUVEC displayed an increase of nitric oxide (NO) in normoxic and hipoxic conditions, being higher at 21% O(2). LPS-activation for 24 h at 1% O(2) increased ROS production, which was reversed with the mitochondrial antioxidant Mitoquinone (MQ) and Glutathione Ethyl Ester (GEE). Activated cells displayed diminished mitochondrial O(2) consumption with specific inhibition of Complex I, accompanied by increase in tyrosine nitration and Type II NOS protein expression, effects which were recovered by antioxidants and/or with L-NAME. These parameters varied with O(2) environment, namely inhibition of respiration observed in both O(2) environments at 24 h was very similar, whereas O(2) consumption rate fell earlier in 1% O(2)-exposed cells. While no significant differences were detected at earlier time points, at 24 h tyrosine nitration was higher in normoxic vs. hypoxic cells.ConclusionsMitochondria are heavily implicated in sepsis. Mitochondrial antioxidants provide a mechanistic model for the development of potential therapies.

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