Effect of methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) on hepatic, heart and skeletal muscle mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase and β-oxidation of fatty acids

Abstract Methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) (MGBG) is an antileukemic agent and a structural polyamine analogue which inhibits S -adenosyl methionine decarboxylase. However, MGBG also produces profound mitochondrial structural damage and inhibition of fatty acid oxidation. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase-A (CPT-A) is located on the outer surface of the inner mitochondrial membrane and is the putative rate-controlling enzyme for mitochondrial long-chain fatty acid oxidation. The present experiments were designed to determine if MGBG inhibits CPT-A. Liver, heart and skeletal muscle mitochondria were isolated from rats following 24 hr of starvation. Measuring the reaction in the direction of palmitoylcarnitine plus CoA formation from palmitoyl-CoA plus carnitine (“forward reaction”), MGBG was competitive with l -carnitine. The MGBG CPT-A K i values were (mM): liver, 5.0 ± 0.6 (N = 15); heart 3.2 ± 1.2 (N = 3); and skeletal muscle, 2.8 ± 1.0 (N = 3). Lysis of hepatic mitochondria with Triton X-100 yielded a K i of 4.0 ± 2.0, which was not significantly different from intact mitochondria or inverted vesicles (4.9 mM). Purified hepatic CPT had a K i of 4.2mM. MGBG did not inhibit purified CPT in the “reverse reaction” (palmitoyl-CoA plus carnitine formation from palmitoylcarnitine plus CoA). Spermine and spermidine, which are structurally similar to MGBG, did not inhibit either CPT activity or acid-soluble product formation from 1-[ 14 C]palmitoyl-CoA. MGBG inhibited mitochondrial state 3 oxidation rates of palmitoyl-CoA and palmitoylcarnitine, as well as of glutamate. However, the fatty acid substrates were considerably more sensitive than glutamate to MGBG inhibition. MGBG also increased hepatic mitochondrial aggregation which was reversed by l -carnitine. Fluorescence polarization, using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) as a probe, indicated that MGBG increased membrane rigidity in a dose-dependent manner. This effect was not altered by l -carnitine. MGBG also inhibited purified pigeon breast carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT; K i = 1.6 mM). While MGBG appeared to be competitive with l -carnitine for both CPT and CAT, MGBG also exhibits a number of effects which may be mediated through membrane interaction and which are not reversed by carnitine.