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3-Hydroxydicarboxylic acids are major urinary metabolites derived from fatty acid metabolism. These compounds are produced from the omega-oxidation of 3-hydroxy fatty acids. The production of the precursor 3-hydroxy fatty acids from incomplete beta-oxidation of fatty acids in rat liver mitochondria was investigated. Independent of the chain length or the concentration of fatty acid substrates, the accumulation of 3-hydroxyacyl intermediates was relatively constant at the concentration of 3-5 nmol/mg of mitochondrial protein. The extent of the incomplete oxidation was the same in Percoll gradient-purified mitochondria. Rotenone treatment increased the production of 3-hydroxy fatty acids. 3-Hydroxy fatty acids did not exist as pure L-enantiomer as expected from beta-oxidation. Instead, these metabolites were epimerized to a near racemic mixture of D- and L-isomers with a slightly dominant D-isomer (58 +/- 3%). By using deuterium-isotope labeling, the mechanism of epimerizartion was shown to be a rapid dehydration-rehydration through trans-2-enoyl-CoA. In addition, cis-3 and trans-3 fatty acids were produced; these metabolites were derived from the isomerization of trans-2-enoyl-CoA. Epimerase and isomerase were thought to be enzymes involved in the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. Current data have shown that the metabolism of these acids is actually through NADPH-dependent reduction pathways. The activities of epimerase and isomerase detected in rat liver mitochondria possibly function mainly in the metabolism of saturated fatty acids in a reverse role to the conventional concept.

Rats treated with hydroxycobalamin[c-lactam] (HCCL), a cobalamin analogue that induces methylmalonic aciduria, have increased hepatic mitochondrial content and increased oxidative metabolism of pyruvate and palmitate per hepatocyte. The present studies were undertaken to characterize oxidative metabolism in isolated liver mitochondria from rats treated with HCCL. After 5-6 weeks, state 3 oxidation rates for diverse substrates are reduced in mitochondria from HCCL-treated rats. Similar reductions of mitochondrial oxidation rates are obtained with dinitrophenol-uncoupled mitochondria excluding defective phosphorylation as a cause for the observed decrease in mitochondrial oxidation. The activities of mitochondrial oxidases are reduced in HCCL-treated rats and demonstrate a defect in complex IV. Investigation of the complexes of the respiratory chain reveals a 32% decrease of ubiquinol:ferricytochrome c oxidoreductase (complex III) activity and a 72% decrease of ferrocytochrome c:oxygen oxidoreductase (complex IV) activity in mitochondria from 5-6-week HCCL-treated rats as compared with controls. Liver mitochondria from HCCL-treated rats also demonstrate decreased cytochrome content per mg of mitochondrial protein (25% decrease of cytochrome b and 52% decrease of cytochrome a + a3 as compared with control rats). The HCCL-treated rat represents an animal model for the study of the consequences of respiratory chain defects in liver mitochondria.

Intact mitochondria and inverted submitochondrial vesicles were prepared from the liver of fed, starved (48 h) and streptozotocin-diabetic rats in order to characterize carnitine palmitoyltransferase kinetics and malonyl-CoA sensitivity in situ. In intact mitochondria, both starved and diabetic rats exhibited increased Vmax., increased Km for palmitoyl-CoA, and decreased sensitivity to malonyl-CoA inhibition. Inverted submitochondrial vesicles also showed increased Vmax. with starvation and diabetes, with no change in Km for either palmitoyl-CoA or carnitine. Inverted vesicles were uniformly less sensitive to malonyl-CoA regardless of treatment, and diabetes resulted in a further decrease in sensitivity. In part, differences in the response of carnitine palmitoyltransferase to starvation and diabetes may reside in differences in the membrane environment, as observed with Arrhenius plots, and the relation of enzyme activity and membrane fluidity. In all cases, whether rats were fed, starved or diabetic, and whether intact or inverted vesicles were examined, increasing membrane fluidity was associated with increasing activity. Malonyl-CoA was found to produce a decrease in intact mitochondrial membrane fluidity in the fed state, particularly at pH 7.0 or less. No effect was observed in intact mitochondria from starved or diabetic rats, or in inverted vesicles from any of the treatment groups. Through its effect on membrane fluidity, malonyl-CoA could regulate carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity on both surfaces of the inner membrane through an interaction with only the outer surface.

Hepatic mitochondrial function was studied in lean and obese Zucker rats in the fed state and at 3 and 6 days of starvation. No significant differences in state 3 mitochondrial oxidative rates were found due to obesity or starvation. Palmitoylcarnitine utilization rates in mitochondria were unaffected by obesity or starvation; however, when expressed per gram liver weight, they were lower in the obese rats due to the decreased amount of mitochondrial protein per gram liver. For palmitoylcarnitine oxidation and acetoacetate and citrate production, the patterns were the same: per milligram mitochondrial protein, both lean and obese rates were equivalent; per total liver, the obese rates were higher; per gram liver, the obese rates were lower. Mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase specific activity was higher in fed obese than in lean rats and remained higher during starvation. The results indicate that mitochondrial capacity to oxidize fatty acids and to produce keto acids is not affected by genetic obesity or starvation. The differences in fatty acid oxidation and keto acid production that have been observed in hepatocytes and perfused liver might be explained by decreased mitochondrial protein per unit weight of liver or hepatocytes in obese rats.

Carnitine is an essential factor in long-chain fatty acid oxidation. Carnitine acts as a carrier of fatty acyl groups from the cytoplasm to the mitochondrion. Long-chain acyl-CoA derivatives do not penetrate the mitochondrial inner membrane. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase A (CPT-A), located on the external surface of the inner membrane, catalyzes the conversion of cytoplasmic long-chain acyl-CoA and carnitine into acylcarnitine. The acylcarnitine is reconverted to intramitochondrial acyl-CoA by the action of carnitine palmitoyltransferase B located in the inner membrane. Now, the acyl-CoA is available for beta-oxidation in the matrix. An inner membrane carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase exchanges carnitine and acylcarnitine across the inner membrane but its role is long-chain acyl transfer has not been established. The tissue concentration of carnitine is important; liver carnitine is correlated with the rate of hepatic ketoacid production. In liver, malonyl-CoA, an intermediate in fatty acid synthesis, is proposed to regulate the activity of CPT-A. Studies using various purified transferases have not provided an answer to the question of whether the two activities expressed in mitochondria are separate enzymes. The absence of only CPT-A activity in isolated skeletal muscle mitochondria obtained from a patient with a lipid-storage myopathy suggests two separate activities.

Hepatic mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) properties, beta-oxidation of palmitoyl-CoA and membrane polarization were measured in lean and obese Zucker rats. The Vmax. of the ‘outer’ carnitine palmitoyltransferase (‘CPT-A‘) increased with starvation, with no change in the Km for either carnitine or palmitoyl-CoA. The Ki for malonyl-CoA increased with starvation in lean rats, but not in obese rats. The Vmax. of the ‘inner’ enzyme (‘CPT-B‘), as measured by using inverted submitochondrial vesicles, increased with starvation in obese rats only, with no change in the Km for either carnitine or palmitoyl-CoA. The Ki for malonyl-CoA was 2-5-fold higher in inverted vesicles than in intact mitochondria, and showed no alteration with starvation. The activities of both enzymes correlated positively with each other and with beta-oxidation, and inversely with membrane polarization. Malonyl-CoA had little effect on gross membrane fluidity in the Zucker rat, as reflected by diphenylhexatriene fluorescence polarization. The results indicate that both enzymes are related and respond similarly to alterations in membrane fluidity. Membrane fluidity may provide a mechanism for co-ordinated control of CPT activity on both sides of the mitochondrial inner membrane.