Effects of Endotoxin and Catecholamines on Hepatic Mitochondrial Respiration

Porta, Francesca
Bracht, Hendrik
Weikert, Christian
Beck, Mario
Takala, Jukka
Brandt, Sebastian
Hiltebrand, Luzius B.
Jakob, Stephan M.

¹Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010, Bern, Switzerland
²Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

^*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

This work should be attributed to the Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland

Inflammation 32(5):p 315-321, October 2009.

Catecholamines are frequently used in sepsis, but their interaction with mitochondrial function is controversial. We incubated isolated native and endotoxin-exposed swine liver mitochondria with either dopamine, dobutamine, noradrenaline or placebo for 1 h. Mitochondrial State 3 and 4 respiration and their ratio (RCR) were determined for respiratory chain complexes I, II and IV. All catecholamines impaired glutamate-dependent RCR (p=0.046), predominantly in native mitochondria. Endotoxin incubation alone induced a decrease in glutamate-dependent RCR compared to control samples (p=0.002). We conclude that catecholamines and endotoxin impair the efficiency of mitochondrial complex I respiration in vitro.