The neuromediator glutamate, through specific substrate interactions, enhances mitochondrial ATP production and reactive oxygen species generation in nonsynaptic brain mitochondria.

The finding that upon neuronal activation glutamate is transported postsynaptically from synaptic clefts and increased lactate availability for neurons suggest that brain mitochondria (BM) utilize a mixture of substrates, namely pyruvate, glutamate, and the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites. We studied how glutamate affected oxidative phosphorylation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in rat BM oxidizing pyruvate + malate or succinate. Simultaneous oxidation of glutamate + pyruvate + malate increased state 3 and uncoupled respiration by 52 and 71%, respectively. The state 4 ROS generation increased 100% over BM oxidizing pyruvate + malate and 900% over that of BM oxidizing glutamate + malate. Up to 70% of ROS generation was associated with reverse electron transport. These effects of pyruvate + glutamate + malate were observed only with BM and not with liver or heart mitochondria. The effects of glutamate + pyruvate on succinate-supported respiration and ROS generation were not organ-specific and depended only on whether mitochondria were isolated with or without bovine serum albumin. With the non-bovine serum albumin brain and heart mitochondria oxidizing succinate, the addition of pyruvate and glutamate abrogated inhibition of Complex II by oxaloacetate. We conclude that (i) during neuronal activation, simultaneous oxidation of glutamate + pyruvate temporarily enhances neuronal mitochondrial ATP production, and (ii) intrinsic inhibition of Complex II by oxaloacetate is an inherent mechanism that protects against ROS generation during reverse electron transport.