XXII. BIOCHEMICKÝ ZJAZD - Jesseniova lekárska fakulta

Lectures
ATOrvaSTATIN CHANGES MEMBraNE LIPID FLUIDITY IN
MITOCHONDRIA ISOLATED frOM varIOUS TISSUES OF raTS
Iveta Waczulíková 1 , Oľga Uličná 2 , Oľga Vančová 2 , Jarmila Kucharská 2 ,
Veronika Ilovská 1 and Libuša Šikurová 1
1
Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, 2 Pharmacobiochemical Lab.,
3 rd Med. Clinic, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Atorvastatin is a potent cholesterol-lowering agent with well-described benefits and
adverse effects manifested in clinical practice. Hypercholesterolemia leads to alterations
in lipid composition and fluidity of blood cell plasma membranes and atorvastatin was
reported to reverse these alterations. Little is known how the hypercholesterolemic
condition and its therapy may influence mitochondrial membrane properties. We have
examined the effect of two selected doses of atorvastatin on membrane lipid fluidity
and function of mitochondria isolated from liver, heart and skeletal muscles of control
and hypercholesterolemic rats. Wistar rats were on a high cholesterol diet for 8 weeks.
Atorvastatin was administered per os either at a low or high dose (10/80 mg/kg/day, resp.)
for 4 weeks. Fluidity was assessed spectrofluorometrically and functional parameters of
mitochondria with a Clark oxygen electrode.
Hypercholesterolemic condition affected the investigated properties of mitochondria in
a tissue-dependent manner. This is likely the reason of an ambiguous action of atorvastatin
on membrane fluidity. Atorvastatin seems to eliminate certain types of membrane
damage induced by hypercholesterolemia, if it is controlled by an appropriate dosage.
However, on average, it tended to fluidize the membranes and compromise capacity of
mitochondrial respiratory chain as well as the rate of ATP formation in mitochondria in
both, healthy and hypercholesterolemic rats.
Acknowledgement: Supported by the grants: VEGA 1/0328/10 and 1/0293/08.
108 XXII. Biochemistry Congress, Martin