Down-regulation of OPA1 alters mouse mitochondrial morphology, PTP function, and cardiac adaptation to pressure overload
AIMS: The optic atrophy 1 (OPA1) protein is an essential protein involved in the fusion of the mitochondrial inner membrane. Despite its high level of expression, the role of OPA1 in the heart is largely unknown. We investigated the role of this protein in Opa1(+/-) mice, having a 50% reduction in OPA1 protein expression in cardiac tissue. METHODS AND RESULTS: In mutant mice, cardiac function assessed by echocardiography was not significantly different from that of the Opa1(+/+). Electron and fluorescence microscopy revealed altered morphology of the Opa1(+/-) mice mitochondrial network; unexpectedly, mitochondria were larger with the presence of clusters of fused mitochondria and altered c…
Creatine kinase is the main target of reactive oxygen species in cardiac myofibrils.
Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been reported to alter cardiac myofibrillar function as well as myofibrillar enzymes such as myosin ATPase and creatine kinase (CK). To understand their precise mode and site of action in myofibrils, the effects of the xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XO) system or of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) have been studied in the presence and in the absence of phosphocreatine (PCr) in Triton X-100–treated cardiac fibers. We found that xanthine oxidase (XO), with or without xanthine, induced a decrease in maximal Ca 2+ -activated tension. We attributed this effect to the high contaminating proteolytic activity in commercial XO preparations, since it could be p…