Oxidative stress and Ca++ toxicity are mechanisms of hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury. This work investigates if partial inhibition of mitochondrial respiratory chain protects HI-brain by limiting generation of oxidative radicals during reperfusion. HI-insult was produced in p10 mice treated with complex-I (C-I) inhibitor, pyridaben (P), or vehicle. Administration of P significantly decreased extent of HI injury. Mitochondria isolated from the ischemic hemisphere in P-treated animals showed reduced H2O2 emission, less oxidative damage to the mitochondrial matrix, and increased tolerance to Ca++ triggered opening of permeability transition pore. Protective effect of P administration was also observed when the reperfusion-driven oxidative stress was augmented by the exposure to 100% O2 which exacerbated brain injury only in V-treated mice. In vitro, intact brain mitochondria dramatically increased H2O2 emission in response to hyperoxia, resulting in substantial loss of Ca++ buffering capacity. However, in the presence of C-I inhibitor, rotenone, or antioxidant, catalase, these effects of hyperoxia were abolished. Our data suggest that the reperfusion-driven recovery of C-I dependent mitochondrial respiration contributes not only to the cellular survival, but also causes an oxidative damage to the mitochondria, potentiating a loss of Ca++ buffering capacity. This highlights a novel neuroprotective strategy against HI-brain injury where the major therapeutic principle is a pharmacological attenuation, rather than an enhancement of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism during early reperfusion.

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When subjected to a period of oxygen deprivation, endothelial cells exhibit a characteristic pattern of responses that can be considered either adaptive or pathologic, depending on the circumstances. In this review, the molecular basis for these responses is detailed. Hypoxia shifts the endothelial phenotype towards one in which anticoagulant properties are diminished, permeability and leukoadhesivity are increased, and proinflammatory features dominate the endovascular milieu. Of all the different points of intersection between the coagulation and inflammatory axes in the vasculature, perhaps most fundamentally, hypoxia alters several key transcriptional factors, including early growth response gene 1 (Egr1) and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) 1, which coordinate separate programs of gene activation. The preponderance of forces in the hypoxic endovascular environment, perhaps designed as an evolutionary adaptation to oxygen deprivation, can trigger severe, pathologic, clinical consequences in the setting of tissue ischemia.

Shedding of the extracellular domain of cytokine receptors allows the diffusion of soluble receptors into the extracellular space; these then bind and neutralize their cytokine ligands, thus dampening inflammatory responses. The molecular mechanisms that control this process, and the extent to which shedding regulates cytokine-induced microvascular inflammation, are not well defined. Here, we used real-time confocal microscopy of mouse lung microvascular endothelium to demonstrate that mitochondria are key regulators of this process. The proinflammatory cytokine soluble TNF-α (sTNF-α) increased mitochondrial Ca 2+ , and the purinergic receptor P 2 Y 2 prolonged the response. Concomitantly, the proinflammatory receptor TNF-α receptor-1 (TNFR1) was shed from the endothelial surface. Inhibiting the mitochondrial Ca 2+ increase blocked the shedding and augmented inflammation, as denoted by increases in endothelial expression of the leukocyte adhesion receptor E-selectin and in microvascular leukocyte recruitment. The shedding was also blocked in microvessels after knockdown of a complex III component and after mitochondria-targeted catalase overexpression. Endothelial deletion of the TNF-α converting enzyme (TACE) prevented the TNF-α receptor shedding response, which suggests that exposure of microvascular endothelium to sTNF-α induced a Ca 2+ -dependent increase of mitochondrial H 2 O 2 that caused TNFR1 shedding through TACE activation. These findings provide what we believe to be the first evidence that endothelial mitochondria regulate TNFR1 shedding and thereby determine the severity of sTNF-α-induced microvascular inflammation.

This study investigated whether mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to alveolar developmental arrest in a mouse model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). To induce BPD, 3-day-old mice were exposed to 75% O 2 . Mice were studied at two time points of hyperoxia (72 h or 2 wk) and after 3 weeks of recovery in room air (RA). A separate cohort of mice was exposed to pyridaben, a complex-I (C-I) inhibitor, for 72 hours or 2 weeks. Alveolarization was quantified by radial alveolar count and mean linear intercept methods. Pulmonary mitochondrial function was defined by respiration rates, ATP-production rate, and C-I activity. At 72 hours, hyperoxic mice demonstrated significant inhibition of C-I activity, reduced respiration and ATP production rates, and significantly decreased radial alveolar count compared with controls. Exposure to pyridaben for 72 hours, as expected, caused significant inhibition of C-I and ADP-phosphorylating respiration. Similar to hyperoxic littermates, these pyridaben-exposed mice exhibited significantly delayed alveolarization compared with controls. At 2 weeks of exposure to hyperoxia or pyridaben, mitochondrial respiration was inhibited and associated with alveolar developmental arrest. However, after 3 weeks of recovery from hyperoxia or 2 weeks after 72 hours of exposure to pyridaben alveolarization significantly improved. In addition, there was marked normalization of C-I and mitochondrial respiration. The degree of hyperoxia-induced pulmonary simplification and recovery strongly (r 2 5 0.76) correlated with C-I activity in lung mitochondria. Thus, the arrest of alveolar development induced by either hyperoxia or direct inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation indicates that bioenergetic failure to maintain normal alveolar development is one of the fundamental mechanisms responsible for BPD.