Small molecules can be physicochemically targeted to mitochondria using the lipophilic alkyltriphenylphosphonium (TPP) group. Once in the mitochondria the TPP---conjugate can detect or influence processes within the mitochondrial matrix directly. Alternatively, the conjugate can behave as a prodrug, which is activated by release from the TPP group either using an internal or external instruction. Small molecules can be designed that can be used in any cell line, tissue or whole organism, allow temporal control, and be applied in a reversible dose---dependent fashion. An example is the detection and quantification of hydrogen peroxide in mitochondria of whole living organisms by MitoB. Hydrogen peroxide produced within the mitochondrial matrix is involved in signalling and implicated in the oxidative damage associated with aging and a wide range of age---associated conditions including cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration and cancer. MitoB accumulates in mitochondria and is converted into the exomarker, MitoP, by hydrogen peroxide in the mitochondrial matrix. The hydrogen peroxide concentration is determined from the ratio of MitoP to MitoB after a period of incubation, and this ratio is determined by mass spectrometry using d15---MitoP and d15---MitoB as standard.
2Here we describe the synthesis of MitoB and MitoP and the deuterated standards necessary for this method of quantification.1. Introduction
Mitochondria---targeted drugs and prodrugsSmall molecule drugs are vital to medicine (1). They can often be administered orally, and produce rapid dose---dependent effects. Similarly, small molecules are useful tools to the molecular biologist seeking to elucidate biological processes. A key advantage to small molecules is that in theory they can be used in any cell line, tissue, organ or organism. Their use does not require the manipulation of proteins and gene expression through mutation and RNA---dependent gene silencing, so they can be applied to native tissues and organisms. Furthermore, a small molecule that is useful for the study of a biological process can often be a lead compound for drug discovery, and vice versa.Mitochondria play a central role in metabolism, supplying most of the ATP used by cells, and also are key to signalling, homeostasis, and the events leading up to apoptosis and necrosis (2,3). Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to almost every age---associated disease including cardiovascular diseases, neurodegeneration and cancer (2), and is implicated in the process of aging itself (4,5).Drugs can act on targets in the mitochondria without having an independent mechanism for their accumulation there. However, efficacy would be increased and side---effects decreased if the concentration of a drug is elevated near its site of action.For this reason, it is desirable to have a mechanism of targeting small molecules to the mitochondria, and in particular the mitochondrial matrix where much of 3 metabolism is sited. Fortunately, there are a variety of approaches for the delivery of molecular...