Cellular effects of endotoxin in vitro. I. Effect of endotoxin on mitochondrial substrate metabolism and intracellular calcium.

Intramitochondrial substrate metabolism was examined in cultured neuroblastoma NB41A3 cells exposed to endotoxin in order to elucidate possible causes for the changes in [ATP]/[ADP][Pi] and [NAD+]/[NADH] reported by us previously in these cells [1]. Flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), measured with [1-14C]-pyruvate, was inhibited by 54% within 10 min in endotoxin-treated cells (0.99 nmol/min/mg dry wt vs 0.46 nmol/min/mg dry wt). In contrast, flux through 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, measured with [1-14C]-glutamate was unaltered (0.79 nmol/min/mg dry wt). Dichloroacetate, an inhibitor of PDH kinase, restored flux through PDH to control levels. In endotoxin-treated cells, only 44% of the total PDH complex was in the active (nonphosphorylated) form as compared to 72% in control cells. Equilibrium uptake studies with 45Ca2+ and atomic absorption measurements showed that intracellular [Ca2+] in endotoxin-treated cells was about 20% lower than in control cells. It is postulated that binding of endotoxin to the plasma membrane triggers a sequence of events that lead to an initial decline in intracellular calcium concentration and that this latter event may be responsible for the inhibition of PDH phosphatase and consequent conversion of the complex to its inactive phosphorylated form.