Jung Kim Min
Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, South Korea.
Anim Cells Syst (Seoul). 2018 Aug 30;22(5):289-298. doi: 10.1080/19768354.2018.1512523. eCollection 2018.
Betaine is a key metabolite of the methionine cycle and known for attenuating alcoholic steatosis in the liver. Recent studies have focused on the protection effect of betaine in mitochondrial regulation through the enhanced oxidative phosphorylation system. However, the mechanisms of its beneficial effects have not been clearly identified yet. Mitochondrial dynamics is important for the maintenance of functional mitochondria and cell homeostasis. A defective mitochondrial dynamics and oxidative phosphorylation system have been closely linked to several pathologies, raising the possibility that novel drugs targeting mitochondrial dynamics may present a therapeutic potential to restore the cellular homeostasis. In this study, we investigated betaine's effect on mitochondrial morphology and physiology and demonstrated that betaine enhances mitochondrial function by increasing mitochondrial fusion and improves cell survival. Furthermore, it rescued the unbalance of the mitochondrial dynamics from mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation dysfunction induced by oligomycin and rotenone. The elongation properties by betaine were accompanied by lowering DRP1 and increasing MFN2 expression. These data suggest that betaine could play an important role in remodeling mitochondrial dynamics to enhance mitochondrial function and cell viability.
甜菜碱是甲硫氨酸循环的关键代谢产物，以减轻肝脏酒精性脂肪变性而闻名。最近的研究集中在甜菜碱通过增强氧化磷酸化系统对线粒体调节的保护作用。然而，其有益作用的机制尚未明确。线粒体动力学对于维持功能性线粒体和细胞内稳态很重要。线粒体动力学缺陷和氧化磷酸化系统与多种病理状况密切相关，这增加了靶向线粒体动力学的新型药物可能具有恢复细胞内稳态的治疗潜力的可能性。在本研究中，我们研究了甜菜碱对线粒体形态和生理的影响，证明甜菜碱通过增加线粒体融合来增强线粒体功能并改善细胞存活。此外，它挽救了由寡霉素和鱼藤酮诱导的线粒体氧化磷酸化功能障碍引起的线粒体动力学失衡。甜菜碱的延长特性伴随着DRP1的降低和MFN2表达的增加。这些数据表明，甜菜碱可能在重塑线粒体动力学以增强线粒体功能和细胞活力方面发挥重要作用。
