High-Resolution Fluoro-Respirometry of Equine Skeletal Muscle

Summary

Horses have an exceptional aerobic exercise capacity, making equine skeletal muscle an important tissue for both the study of equine exercise physiology as well as mammalian mitochondrial physiology. This article describes techniques for the comprehensive assessment of mitochondrial function in equine skeletal muscle.

Abstract

Mitochondrial function-oxidative phosphorylation and the generation of reactive oxygen species-is critical in both health and disease. Thus, measuring mitochondrial function is fundamental in biomedical research. Skeletal muscle is a robust source of mitochondria, particularly in animals with a very high aerobic capacity, such as horses, making them ideal subjects for studying mitochondrial physiology. This article demonstrates the use of high-resolution respirometry with concurrent fluorometry, with freshly harvested skeletal muscle mitochondria, to quantify the capacity to oxidize substrates under different mitochondrial states and determine the relative capacities of distinct elements of mitochondrial respiration. Tetramethylrhodamine methylester is used to demonstrate the production of mitochondrial membrane potential resulting from substrate oxidation, including calculation of the relative efficiency of the mitochondria by calculating the relative membrane potential generated per unit of concurrent oxygen flux. The conversion of ADP to ATP results in a change in the concentration of magnesium in the reaction chamber, due to differing affinities of the adenylates for magnesium. Therefore, magnesium green can be used to measure the rate of ATP synthesis, allowing the further calculation of the oxidative phosphorylation efficiency (ratio of phosphorylation to oxidation [P/O]). Finally, the use of Amplex UltraRed, which produces a fluorescent product (resorufin) when combined with hydrogen peroxide, allows the quantification of reactive oxygen species production during mitochondrial respiration, as well as the relationship between ROS production and concurrent respiration. These techniques allow the robust quantification of mitochondrial physiology under a variety of different simulated conditions, thus shedding light on the contribution of this critical cellular component to both health and disease.

Introduction

The mitochondria of eukaryotic cells produce the majority of the ATP used by the cells for work and maintenance¹. A key step in the mitochondrial production of ATP is the conversion of oxygen to water, and thus the metabolic capacity of mitochondria and the associated cells is frequently quantified through the measurement of oxygen consumption². However, mitochondrial physiology is more complex than the simple process of oxygen consumption, and reliance on this endpoint exclusively provides an incomplete assessment of the impact of mitochondrial function and dysfunction on cellular health. Full characterization of mitoch....

Protocol

This study was approved by the Oklahoma State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Four Thoroughbred geldings (17.5 ± 1.3 years, 593 ± 45 kg) were used in this study to generate the representative results.

1. Obtaining skeletal muscle biopsy specimen

1. Obtain skeletal muscle biopsies (follow sterile technique) from the center of the semitendinosus muscle (or other muscle of interest), using a 12 G University College Hospital (UCH) biopsy .......

Discussion

The addition of fluorescent signals to the standard output of the high-resolution respirometer provides valuable information regarding mitochondrial physiology, but meticulous calibration of the fluorescent signal is critical for quality data. The original protocols for the use of MgG suggest that the calibration curves generated while calculating magnesium-adenylate dissociation constants could be applied to subsequent assays⁴; however, the fluorescent signal from the MgG may not be not sufficien.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
ADP	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	A5285
Amplex UltraRed	Life Technologies	A36006
ATP	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	A2383
BSA	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	A6003
Calcium carbonate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	C4830
CCCP	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	C2759
DatLab 7.0	Oroboros Inc		Software to operate O2K fluororespirometer
Dithiothreitol	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	D0632
DTPA	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	D1133
EGTA	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	E4378
Glutamate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	G1626
HEPES	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	H7523
Horseradish peroxidase	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	P8250
Hydrogen peroxide	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	516813	Must be made fresh daily prior to assay
Imidazole	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	I2399
K-MES	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	M8250
Magnesium chloride hexahydrate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	M9272
Magnesium Green	Thermo Fisher Scientific	M3733
Malate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	M1000
Mannitol	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	M9647
Mitochondrial isolation kit	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	MITOISO1
O2K fluororespirometer	Oroboros Inc		Multiple units required to run full spectrum of assays concurrently.
Phosphocreatine	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	P7936
Potassium hydroxide	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	P1767
Potassium lactobionate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	L2398
Potassium phosphate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	P0662
Pyruvate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	P2256	Must be made fresh daily prior to assay
Rotenone	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	R8875
Succinate	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	S2378
Sucrose	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	84097
Superoxide dismutase	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	S8160
Taurine	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	T0625
Titration pump	Oroboros Inc
Titration syringes	Oroboros Inc
TMRM	Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma)	T5428
UCH biopsy needle	Millenium Surgical Corp	72-238067	Available in a range of sizes