Acute Effects of Cocaine, Morphine and Their Combination on Bioenergetic Function and Susceptibility to Oxidative Stress of Rat Liver Mitochondria
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Life Sciences 92 (2013) 1157–1164 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Life Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lifescie Acute effects of cocaine, morphine and their combination on bioenergetic function and susceptibility to oxidative stress of rat liver mitochondria Teresa Cunha-Oliveira a,⁎,1, Lisbeth Silva a,1, Ana Maria Silva a, António J. Moreno c, Catarina R. Oliveira a,b, Maria S. Santos a,c a CNC — Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Largo Marquês de Pombal, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal b Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal c Life Sciences Department, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Apartado 3046, 3001-401 Coimbra, Portugal article info abstract Article history: Aims: Cocaine and heroin are frequently co-abused in a combination known as speedball. Despite the relevance Received 2 February 2013 of the liver in the metabolism and detoxification of these drugs, little is known about the impact of speedball on Accepted 29 April 2013 liver function. Main methods: In this work, we evaluated the effects of cocaine, morphine and morphine + cocaine (Mor + Coc) Keywords: combination (1:1) in isolated rat liver mitochondria, upon glutamate/malate or succinate energization, on bioen- Cocaine ergetics and oxidative stress-related parameters by using Clark O ,Ca2+,TPP+ and pH electrodes and by measur- Morphine 2 ing thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and H O production. Speedball 2 2 fi Mitochondria Key ndings: Cocaine and Mor + Coc at the higher concentrations (1 mM) similarly increased O2 consumption Liver at state 2, state 4 and state oligomycin. In these conditions, maximum respiration was decreased only upon glu- Oxidative stress tamate/malate energization, suggesting an involvement of complex I. Morphine (1 mM) only increased state 2 Bioenergetics respiration. Cocaine and Mor + Coc induced a similar decrease in maximum mitochondrial membrane potential and in ADP-induced depolarization, whereas morphine had no effect. The drugs and their combination similarly decreased mitochondrial ATPase activity and had no effect on Ca2+-induced permeability transition. Morphine and Mor + Coc prevented lipid peroxidation, since in these conditions there was a decrease in O2 consumption 2+ and in TBARS upon ADP/Fe stimulus, and a decrease in H2O2 formation, suggesting an antioxidant effect. Interestingly, heroin did not share morphine antioxidant properties. Significance: Our results show that the sequential direct exposure of liver mitochondria to morphine and cocaine does not alter the effects observed in the presence of each drug alone. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction occur, resulting in the formation of adducts between the two molecules at a 1:1 proportion (Garrido et al., 2007), which may modify the molec- Cocaine and heroin are two of the most problematic illicit drugs of ular effects of speedball. abuse (Nutt et al., 2007). Cocaine is the second most used illicit drug We have previously shown that acute exposure to both cocaine in Europe (after cannabis) and heroin use accounts for the greatest (Cunha-Oliveira et al., 2006a) and heroin (Cunha-Oliveira et al., 2007) share of morbidity and mortality related to drug use in the European induces neurotoxicity in rat cortical neurons, in a process involving Union (European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death by apoptosis. We have also 2012). Polydrug abuse is a widespread phenomenon among drug ad- shown that cocaine–heroin combinations induced mitochondrial depo- dicts, with serious health consequences (European Monitoring Center larization, ATP loss and cytochrome c release in rat cortical neurons for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2009). Co-consumption of cocaine and (Cunha-Oliveira et al., 2010). Thus, the cytotoxicity of cocaine and/or heroin is very common since these drugs have complementary effects heroin seems to involve mitochondrial dysfunction, pointing out the (stimulant and sedative, respectively), thereby reducing the secondary mitochondria as a main intracellular target of the cytotoxicity of these effects of one another, and may occur either sequentially or simulta- drugs. neously (Leri et al., 2003). In mixtures of cocaine and heroin, chemical Heroin has a very short half-life and is rapidly metabolized into interactions between cocaine and morphine (heroin metabolite) may 6-acetylmorphine and morphine, which mediate many of heroin's effects in the organism (Cunha-Oliveira et al., 2008). Cocaine and mor- phine, as most drugs, are metabolized in the liver, with mitochondria ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +351 239 820 190; fax: +351 239 822 776. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (T. Cunha-Oliveira). playing a central role, and this organ is highly affected by each of 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. these drugs (Bekheet, 2010; Van Thiel and Perper, 1992). Since little is 0024-3205/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2013.04.016 1158 T. Cunha-Oliveira et al. / Life Sciences 92 (2013) 1157–1164 known about speedball hepatotoxicity, in the present study we com- TPP+ concentration in the medium sensed by the electrode. The pared the effects of 1:1 morphine + cocaine (Mor + Coc) sequential difference between the potential of the selective electrode and the combination in mitochondria isolated from rat liver with the effects reference electrode was measured with an electrometer and recorder of cocaine and morphine alone, focusing on the bioenergetic function continuously in a Kipp and Zonen recorder. The voltage response of and susceptibility to oxidative stress. the TPP+ electrode to log [TPP+] was linear with a slope of 59 ± 1, in a good agreement with Nernst equation. Materials and methods To monitor ΔΨ associated to mitochondrial respiration, the mitochondria (1 mg/ml) were incubated in the standard respiratory Chemicals medium supplemented with 3 μM TPP+ (and 2 μM rotenone if succi- nate was the respiratory substrate), at 30 °C, in the absence or pres- Cocaine hydrochloride and morphine sulfate salt pentahydrate were ence of different concentrations of the drugs alone or combined, for obtained from Sigma-Aldrich Co. (St Louis, MO, USA), upon authorization 1 min, prior to the addition of 10 mM glutamate/5 mM malate or by INFARMED, Portugal (National Authority of Medicines and Health 5 mM succinate to start the reaction. After steady-state distribution Products). All of the other chemicals were of the highest grade of purity of TPP+ had been reached ADP (125 nmol/mg protein) was added commercially available. and ΔΨ fluctuations were recorded. Animals Mitochondrial ATPase activity Male Wistar-han adolescent rats (9–12 weeks old) were maintained The activity of mitochondrial ATPase was evaluated through in our animal house, under controlled light (12 h day/night cycle), detection of pH changes occurring during ATP hydrolysis, as described temperature and humidity, with ad libitum access to food and water. previously (Madeira et al., 1974), with some modifications. The mito- Procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use chondria (1.5 mg of protein) were incubated in 1.5 ml of reaction Committee. media (130 mM sucrose, 50 mM KCl, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 0.5 mM HEPES, pH 7.2) supplemented with 3 μM rotenone. The drugs were incubated Isolation of liver mitochondria alone or combined at 0.4 mM and 1 mM, for 1 min. The reaction was initiated by the addition of 1 mM ATP/Mg2+. Oligomycin was used as The animals were sacrificed by cervical displacement and liver a selective inhibitor of ATPase (FO unit) and completely abolished pH mitochondria were isolated by a conventional method (Gazzotti et al., alterations. Known concentrations of NaOH were used to calibrate the 1979), with slight modifications. Livers were homogenized immediately system. in ice-cold homogenization medium containing 250 mM sucrose, 10 mM HEPES, 0.5 mM EGTA, and 0.1% defatted bovine serum albumin Ca2+-induced mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore (pH 7.4). The homogenate was centrifuged for 10 min at 900 ×g and mitochondria were recovered from supernatant, and pelleted at The accumulation and release of Ca2+ by the mitochondria is 10 000 ×g for 10 min. The mitochondrial pellet was washed twice and related with MPT pore opening. Monitoring of Ca2+ accumulation suspended in the washing medium (250 mM sucrose, 10 mM HEPES, by the mitochondria, using an electrode for Ca2+ or for TPP+ can pH 7.4). Protein content was determined by the biuret method give information about the effect of drugs on MPT. (Gornall et al., 1949), using bovine serum albumin as a standard. In order to detect Ca2+-induced MPT we used a TPP+ electrode, according to procedures previously described, with some modifications Mitochondrial respiration (Fernandes et al., 2008). To monitor ΔΨ associated to MPT, the liver mitochondria (1 mg) were incubated, for 1 min, in 1 ml of reaction Mitochondrial oxygen consumption was monitored polarographically medium (200 mM sucrose, 1 mM KH2PO4,10μM EGTA, 10 mM at 30 °C with a Clark-type oxygen electrode (Yellow Spring Instrument, HEPES (pH 7.4 adjusted with Tris) supplemented with 2 μMrotenone, Model YSI5331) (Estabrook, 1967) connected to a Kipp and Zonen re- in the absence and presence of the drugs (1 mM), isolated or in combi- corder in a thermostatic water-jacketed chamber with magnetic stirring. nation. The reactions were started by the addition of 5 mM succinate Liver mitochondria (1 mg) were incubated, for 1 min, in 1 ml of the followed by the addition of pulses of Ca2+ (40 nmol Ca2+/mg protein). 2+ respiratory medium (130 mM sucrose, 50 mM KCl, 2.5 mM KH2PO4, Control assays with Ca , in the absence or presence of the MPT inhib- 5 mM HEPES and 2 mM MgCl2 pH 7.4) in the absence or presence of itor cyclosporin A (CsA, 0.8 μM), were also performed.