Assessing Energy Substrate Oxidation In Vitro with 14CO2 Trapping

Summary

This protocol describes an easy-to-use method to examine substrate oxidation by tracking ¹⁴CO₂ production in vitro.

Abstract

Mitochondria host the machinery for the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and electron transport chain (ETC), which generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to maintain energy homeostasis. Glucose, fatty acids, and amino acids are the major energy substrates fueling mitochondrial respiration in most somatic cells. Evidence shows that different cell types may have a distinct preference for certain substrates. However, substrate utilization by various cells in the skeleton has not been studied in detail. Moreover, as cellular metabolism is attuned to physiological and pathophysiological changes, direct assessments of substrate dependence in skeletal cells may provide important insights into the pathogenesis of bone diseases.

The following protocol is based on the principle of carbon dioxide release from substrate molecules following oxidative phosphorylation. By using substrates containing radioactively labeled carbon atoms (¹⁴C), the method provides a sensitive and easy-to-use assay for the rate of substrate oxidation in cell culture. A case study with primary calvarial preosteoblasts versus bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) demonstrates different utilization of the main substrates between the two cell types.

Introduction

Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in eukaryotes is the process by which nutrients are broken down inside mitochondria to release chemical energy in the form of ATP through consumption of oxygen.  Catabolism of various substrates inside mitochondria through the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle generates few ATP molecules directly, but rather stores energy through reduction of the electron carriers nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD⁺). The reduced carriers are then oxidized by ETC located on the inner membrane of mitochondria to generate a proton concentration gradient across the membrane. The protons ....

Protocol

The use of radioactive materials (RAM) requires prior approval by a designated safety committee at each institution. RAMs used in this protocol have been approved by Environmental Health & Radiation Safety (EHRS) at the University of Pennsylvania. The use of animals requires prior approval by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at the home institution. The following study was approved by IACUC at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

1. Preparation of stock solutions for ¹⁴C-labeled substrates

1. Make 4 mM bovine serum albumin (BSA) stock solution by mixing 11 g of BSA and 33.1 mL ....

Results

In this example, the CO₂ trapping method is used to compare substrate oxidation by primary calvarial preosteoblasts versus BMMs, which are frequently used for in vitro osteoblast or osteoclast differentiation, respectively. After the primary cells are passaged and cultured in cMEMα overnight, they typically reach 80-90% of confluence and exhibit their characteristic morphology. The calvarial preosteoblasts are notably larger than BMMs (Figure 2). Each cell type is subject.......

Discussion

The protocol provides an easy-to-use method to determine the oxidation rate of major energy substrates. It is a simpler alternative to other protocols that use flasks containing a central well and capped with rubber stoppers^14,15,16. Although the example study here is performed with cell culture, the method can be easily adapted for tissue explants or tissue homogenates containing intact mitochondria, as previously described

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.22 µm filters	Sigma-Aldrich	SLGVM33RS	Used to filter BSA solution
0.25% Trypsin-EDTA	Gibco	25200056	Dissociate cells from cell culture plates
1.5 mL Eppendorf tubes	PR1MA	PR MCT17 RB	Used for reaction incubation
10 cm plates	TPP	93100	Used for cell culture
10 mL syringe	BD	302995	Used to flush marrow from long bones
10% FBS	Atlanta biologicals	S11550	For Cell culture medium preparation
14C-Glucose	PerkinElmer	NEC042X050UC	Used to make hot media
14C-glutamine	PerkinElmer	NEC451050UC	Used to make hot media
14C-oleate	PerkinElmer	NEC317050UC	Used to make hot media
23 G needle	BD	305120	Used to flush marrow from long bones
24-well plates	TPP	92024	Used for cell culture
70 μm cell strainers	MIDSCI	70CELL	Used to filter supernatant during cavarial digestion
Acridine Orange/Propidium Iodide (AO/PI) dye	Nexcelom Biosciences	CS2-0106	Stains live cells to determine seed density
Bovine Serum Ablumin	Proliant Biologicals	68700	Used for fatty acid conjugation
Cellometer Auto 2000	Nexcelom Biosciences		Determine the number of viable cells
Centrifuge	Thermo Fisher	Legend Micro 21R	Used to pellet cells
Collagenase type II	Worthington	LS004176	Dissociate cells from tissue
Custom MEM alpha	GIBCO	SKU: ME 18459P1	Used to create custom hot media
Dulbecco's Phosphate-Buffered Saline	Gibco	10010023	Used to dissolve and dilute reagents, and wash culture dishes
Filter Paper	Millipore-Sigma	WHA1001090	Traps CO2 with sodium hydroxide
Glucose	Sigma-Aldrich	g7528	Used to make custom media
HEPES	Gibco	15630080	Traps CO2 during cell culture
L-carnitine	Sigma-Aldrich	C0283	Supplemented for fatty acid oxidation
L-Glutamine	Sigma-Aldrich	g3126	Used to make custom media
MEM alpha	Thermo	A10490	Cell culture medium
Parafilm	Pecheney Plastic Packaging	PM998	Used to seal cell culture dishes
Penicillin-Streptomycin	Thermo Fisher	15140122	Prevents contamination in cell culture
Perchloric Acid	Sigma-Aldrich	244252	Releases CO2 during metabolic assay
Pyruvate	Sigma-Aldrich	p5280	Used to make custom media
Scintillation Counter	Beckman Coulter	LS6500	Determines radioactivity from the filter paper
Scintillation Fluid	MP Biomedicals	882453	Absorb the energy emitted by RAMs and re-emit it as flashes of light
Scintillation Vial	Fisher Scientific	03-337-1	Reaction containers for scintillation fluid
Sodium carbonate	Sigma-Aldrich	S5761	Balance buffer for medium
Sodium Hydroxide	Sigma-Aldrich	58045	Traps CO2 during metaboilc assay
Sodium oleate	SANTA CRUZ	SC-215879	BSA conjugated fatty acid preparation
Vaccum filtration 1000	TPP	99950	Filter cMEMα