The Protein Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Tyrphostin 23 Strongly Accelerates Glycolytic Lactate Production in Cultured Primary Astrocytes

Endogenous Energy Stores Maintain a High ATP Concentration for Hours in Glucose-Depleted Cultured Primary Rat Astrocytes

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the central energy currency of all cells. Cultured primary rat astrocytes contain a specific cellular ATP content of 27.9 ± 4.7 nmol/mg. During incubation in a glucose- and amino acid-free incubation buffer, this high cellular ATP content was maintained for at least 6 h, while within 24 h the levels of ATP declined to around 30% of the initial value without compromising cell viability. In contrast, cells exposed to 1 mM and 5 mM glucose maintained the initial high cellular ATP content for 24 and 72 h, respectively. The loss in cellular ATP content observed during a 24 h glucose-deprivation was fully prevented by the presence of glucose, fructose or mannose as well as by the mitochondrial substrates lactate, pyruvate, β-hydroxybutyrate or acetate. The high initial specific ATP content in glucose-starved astrocytes, was almost completely abolished within 30 min after application of the respiratory chain inhibitor antimycin A or the mitochondrial uncoupler BAM-15, while these inhibitors lowered in glucose-fed cells the ATP content only to 60% (BAM-15) and 40% (antimycin A) within 5 h. Inhibition of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier by UK5099 alone or of mitochondrial fatty acid uptake by etomoxir alone hardly affected the high ATP content of glucose-deprived astrocytes during an incubation for 8 h, while the co-application of both inhibitors depleted cellular ATP levels almost completely within 5 h. These data underline the importance of mitochondrial metabolism for the ATP regeneration of astrocytes and demonstrate that the mitochondrial oxidation of pyruvate and fatty acids strongly contributes to the maintenance of a high ATP concentration in glucose-deprived astrocytes.

β-lapachone-mediated WST1 Reduction as Indicator for the Cytosolic Redox Metabolism of Cultured Primary Astrocytes

Electron cycler-mediated extracellular reduction of the water-soluble tetrazolium salt 1 (WST1) is frequently used as tool for the determination of cell viability. We have adapted this method to monitor by determining the extracellular WST1 formazan accumulation the cellular redox metabolism of cultured primary astrocytes via the NAD(P)H-dependent reduction of the electron cycler β-lapachone by cytosolic NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). Cultured astrocytes that had been exposed to β-lapachone in concentrations of up to 3 µM remained viable and showed an almost linear extracellular accumulation of WST1 formazan for the first 60 min, while higher concentrations of β-lapachone caused oxidative stress and impaired cell metabolism. β-lapachone-mediated WST1 reduction was inhibited by the NQO1 inhibitors ES936 and dicoumarol in a concentration-dependent manner, with half-maximal inhibition observed at inhibitor concentrations of about 0.3 µM. β-lapachone-mediated WST1 reduction depended strongly on glucose availability, while mitochondrial substrates such as lactate, pyruvate or ketone bodies allowed only residual β-lapachone-mediated WST1 reduction. Accordingly, the mitochondrial respiratory chain inhibitors antimycin A and rotenone hardly affected astrocytic WST1 reduction. Both NADH and NADPH are known to supply electrons for reactions catalysed by cytosolic NQO1. Around 60% of the glucose-dependent β-lapachone-mediated WST1 reduction was prevented by the presence of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase inhibitor G6PDi-1, while the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase inhibitor iodoacetate had only little inhibitory potential. These data suggest that pentose phosphate pathway-generated NADPH, and not glycolysis-derived NADH, is the preferred electron source for cytosolic NQO1-catalysed reductions in cultured astrocytes.

The Menadione-Mediated WST1 Reduction by Cultured Astrocytes Depends on NQO1 Activity and Cytosolic Glucose Metabolism

The reduction of water-soluble tetrazolium salts (WSTs) is frequently used to determine the metabolic integrity and the viability of cultured cells. Recently, we have reported that the electron cycler menadione can efficiently connect intracellular oxidation reactions in cultured astrocytes with the extracellular reduction of WST1 and that this menadione cycling reaction involves an enzyme. The enzymatic reaction involved in the menadione-dependent WST1 reduction was found strongly enriched in the cytosolic fraction of cultured astrocytes and is able to efficiently use both NADH and NADPH as electron donors. In addition, the reaction was highly sensitive towards dicoumarol with Kic values in the low nanomolar range, suggesting that the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) catalyzes the menadione-dependent WST1 reduction in astrocytes. Also, in intact astrocytes, dicoumarol inhibited the menadione-dependent WST1 reduction in a concentration-dependent manner with half-maximal inhibition observed at around 50 nM. Moreover, the menadione-dependent WST1 reduction by viable astrocytes was strongly affected by the availability of glucose. In the absence of glucose only residual WST1 reduction was observed, while a concentration-dependent increase in WST1 reduction was found during a 30 min incubation with maximal WST1 reduction already determined in the presence of 0.5 mM glucose. Mannose could fully replace glucose as substrate for astrocytic WST1 reduction, while other hexoses, lactate and the mitochondrial substrate β-hydroxybutyrate failed to provide electrons for the cell-dependent WST1 reduction. These results demonstrate that the menadione-mediated WST1 reduction involves cytosolic NQO1 activity and that this process is strongly affected by the availability of glucose as metabolic substrate.

Consequences of a Metabolic Glucose-Depletion on the Survival and the Metabolism of Cultured Rat Astrocytes

Brain astrocytes are considered to be highly glycolytic, but these cells also produce ATP via mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. To investigate how a metabolic depletion of glucose will affect the metabolism of astrocytes, we applied glucose at an initial concentration of 2 mM to cultured primary astrocytes and monitored the cell viability and various metabolic parameters during an incubation for up to 2 weeks. Already within 2 days of incubation the cells had completely consumed the applied glucose and lactate had accumulated in the medium to a concentration of around 3 mM. During the subsequent 10 days of incubation, the cell viability was not compromised while the extracellular lactate concentration declined to values of around 0.2 mM, before the cell viability was compromised. Application of known inhibitors of mitochondrial metabolism strongly accelerated glucose consumption and initial lactate production, while the lactate consumption was completely (antimycin A or 8-hydroxy efavirenz) and partially (efavirenz, metformin or tyrphostin 23) inhibited which caused rapid and delayed cell toxicity, respectively. The switch from glycolytic glucose metabolism to mitochondrial metabolism during the incubation was neither accompanied by alterations in the specific cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase activity or in the WST1 reduction capacity nor in the mitochondrial citrate synthase activity, but a cellular redistribution of mitochondria from a perinuclear to a more spread cytoplasmic localization was observed during the lactate consumption phase. These results demonstrate that cultured astrocytes survive a metabolism-induced glucose depletion very well by consuming lactate as fuel for mitochondrial ATP generation.

The tricarboxylic acid cycle activity in cultured primary astrocytes is strongly accelerated by the protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor tyrphostin 23

Tyrphostin 23 (T23) is a well-known inhibitor of protein tyrosine kinases and has been considered as potential anti-cancer drug. T23 was recently reported to acutely stimulate the glycolytic flux in primary cultured astrocytes. To investigate whether T23 also affects the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, we incubated primary rat astrocyte cultures with [U-¹³C]glucose in the absence or the presence of 100 μM T23 for 2 h and analyzed the ¹³C metabolite pattern. These incubation conditions did not compromise cell viability and confirmed that the presence of T23 doubled glycolytic lactate production. In addition, T23-treatment strongly increased the molecular carbon labeling of the TCA cycle intermediates citrate, succinate, fumarate and malate, and significantly increased the incorporation of ¹³C-labelling into the amino acids glutamate, glutamine and aspartate. These results clearly demonstrate that, in addition to glycolysis, also the mitochondrial TCA cycle is strongly accelerated after exposure of astrocytes to T23, suggesting that a protein tyrosine kinase may be involved in the regulation of the TCA cycle in astrocytes.