Short-term starvation is a strategy to unravel the cellular capacity of oxidizing specific exogenous/endogenous substrates in mitochondria.

Mitochondrial oxidation of nutrients is tightly regulated in response to the cellular environment and changes in energy demands. In vitro studies evaluating the mitochondrial capacity of oxidizing different substrates are important for understanding metabolic shifts in physiological adaptations and pathological conditions, but may be influenced by the nutrients present in the culture medium or by the utilization of endogenous stores. One such influence is exemplified by the Crabtree effect (the glucose-mediated inhibition of mitochondrial respiration) as most in vitro experiments are performed in glucose-containing media. Here, using high-resolution respirometry, we evaluated the oxidation of endogenous or exogenous substrates by cell lines harboring different metabolic profiles. We found that a 1-h deprivation of the main energetic nutrients is an appropriate strategy to abolish interference of endogenous or undesirable exogenous substrates with the cellular capacity of oxidizing specific substrates, namely glutamine, pyruvate, glucose, or palmitate, in mitochondria. This approach primed mitochondria to immediately increase their oxygen consumption after the addition of the exogenous nutrients. All starved cells could oxidize exogenous glutamine, whereas the capacity for oxidizing palmitate was limited to human hepatocarcinoma Huh7 cells and to C2C12 mouse myoblasts that differentiated into myotubes. In the presence of exogenous glucose, starvation decreased the Crabtree effect in Huh7 and C2C12 cells and abrogated it in mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells. Interestingly, the fact that the Crabtree effect was observed only for mitochondrial basal respiration but not for the maximum respiratory capacity suggests it is not caused by a direct effect on the electron transport system.