It has been reported that the activity of mitochondrial aconitase (m-aconitase) is rapidly inhibited in a variety of cells when exposed to nitric oxide (NO).NO is a free radical produced by a wide variety of cell types, that reacts predominantly with Fe(III) or Fe(II) ions of heme proteins and Fe-S centers, as well as molecular oxygen, and superoxide anion. 4,5) Moreover, NO easily reaches mitochondria from cytosolic or extracellular sources, due to its low molecular radius and hydrophobic nature.6) It has also been reported that induction of NO synthesis or exposure of different cell types to NO-donors resulted in early loss of mitochondrial aconitase (m-aconitase) activity.
1)NO-mediated inactivation of m-aconitase has been reported in a variety of cells including macrophages, 7) fibroblasts, 8) tumor cells, 9,10) and Escherichia (E.) coli, 11) though results from in vitro studies are somewhat contradictory. Indeed, in vitro studies that used porcine heart m-aconitase found that low concentrations of NO did not inactivate aconitase, whereas high concentrations led to moderate inhibition.12) Resistance of purified E. coli aconitase and human recombinant cytosolic aconitase (c-aconitase) to NO-dependent inactivation has also been reported. 13) On the contrary, inactivation by either NO or a NO-donor was reported for both m-aconitase and c-aconitase in the presence and absence of a substrate.
14)In agreement with those findings, it was shown that the active form [4Fe-4S] of m-aconitase is rapidly and directly oxidized by ONOO − , to [3Fe-4S], causing a loss of catalytic activity.
12)Another report 11) also noted that E. coli aconitase is highly sensitive to NO-mediated inactivation apparently independent of ONOO − formation. Recently, it was also reported that NO binds to Fe a in the [4Fe-4S] cluster of recombinant porcine maconitase and slowly promotes complete cluster disassembly.
6)The present findings demonstrate that NO-donors promote Fe-dependent activation of m-aconitase ([3Fe-4S] form) in vitro. In intact mitochondria, the NO-donors also promoted Fe-dependent reactivation of the enzyme disassembled by ammonium peroxodisulfate (APS). In mixed neuronal and