Differential mitochondrial calcium responses in different cell types detected with a mitochondrial calcium fluorescent indicator, mito-GCaMP2

M Chen, Y Wang, T Hou, H Zhang, A Qu… - Acta Biochim Biophys …, 2011 - academic.oup.com
M Chen, Y Wang, T Hou, H Zhang, A Qu, X Wang
Acta Biochim Biophys Sin, 2011academic.oup.com
Mitochondrial calcium plays a crucial role in mitochondrial metabolism, cell calcium
handling, and cell death. However, some mechanisms concerning mitochondrial calcium
regulation are still unknown, especially how mitochondrial calcium couples with cytosolic
calcium. In this work, we constructed a novel mitochondrial calcium fluorescent indicator
(mito-GCaMP2) by genetic manipulation. Mito-GCaMP2 was imported into mitochondria with
high efficiency and the fluorescent signals co-localized with that of tetramethyl rhodamine …
Abstract
Mitochondrial calcium plays a crucial role in mitochondrial metabolism, cell calcium handling, and cell death. However, some mechanisms concerning mitochondrial calcium regulation are still unknown, especially how mitochondrial calcium couples with cytosolic calcium. In this work, we constructed a novel mitochondrial calcium fluorescent indicator (mito-GCaMP2) by genetic manipulation. Mito-GCaMP2 was imported into mitochondria with high efficiency and the fluorescent signals co-localized with that of tetramethyl rhodamine methyl ester, a mitochondrial membrane potential indicator. The mitochondrial inhibitors specifically decreased the signals of mito-GCaMP2. The apparent Kd of mito-GCaMP2 was 195.0 nmol/L at pH 8.0 in adult rat cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, we observed that mito-GCaMP2 preferred the alkaline pH surrounding of mitochondria. In HeLa cells, we found that mitochondrial calcium ([Ca2+]mito) responded to the changes of cytosolic calcium ([Ca2+]cyto) induced by histamine or thapasigargin. Moreover, external Ca2+ (100 μmol/L) directly induced an increase of [Ca2+]mito in permeabilized HeLa cells. However, in rat cardiomyocytes [Ca2+]mito did not respond to cytosolic calcium transients stimulated by electric pacing or caffeine. In permeabilized cardiomyocytes, 600 nmol/L free Ca2+ repeatedly increased the fluorescent signals of mito-GCaMP2, which excluded the possibility that mito-GCaMP2 lost its function in cardiomyocytes mitochondria. These results showed that the response of mitochondrial calcium is diverse in different cell lineages and suggested that mitochondria in cardiomyocytes may have a special defense mechanism to control calcium flux.
Oxford University Press