Mitochondrial Superoxide Signaling Contributes to Norepinephrine-Mediated T-Lymphocyte Cytokine Profiles. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Norepinephrine (NE) produces multifaceted regulatory patterns in T-lymphocytes. Recently, we have shown that NE utilizes redox signaling as evidenced by increased superoxide (O2-) causally linked to the observed changes in these cells; however, the source of this reactive oxygen species (ROS) remains elusive. Herein, we hypothesized that the source of increased O2- in NE-stimulated T-lymphocytes is due to disruption of mitochondrial bioenergetics. To address this hypothesis, we utilized purified mouse splenic CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes stimulated with NE and assessed O2- levels, mitochondrial metabolism, cellular proliferation, and cytokine profiles. We demonstrate that the increase in O2- levels in response to NE is time-dependent and occurs at later points of T-lymphocyte activation. Moreover, the source of O2- was indeed the mitochondria as evidenced by enhanced MitoSOX Red oxidation as well as abrogation of this signal by the addition of the mitochondrial-targeted O2--scavenging antioxidant MitoTempol. NE-stimulated T-lymphocytes also demonstrated decreased mitochondrial respiratory capacity, which suggests disruption of mitochondrial metabolism and the potential source of increased mitochondrial O2-. The effects of NE in regards to redox signaling appear to be adrenergic receptor-dependent as specific receptor antagonists could reverse the increase in O2-; however, differential receptors regulating these processes were observed in CD4+ versus CD8+ T-lymphocytes. Finally, mitochondrial O2- was shown to be mechanistic to the NE-mediated T-lymphocyte phenotype as supplementation of MitoTempol could reverse specific changes in cytokine expression observed with NE treatment. Overall, these studies indicate that mitochondrial metabolism and O2--mediated redox signaling play a regulatory role in the T-lymphocyte response to NE.

published proceedings

  • PLoS One

altmetric score

  • 1.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Case, A. J., Roessner, C. T., Tian, J., & Zimmerman, M. C.

citation count

  • 29

complete list of authors

  • Case, Adam J||Roessner, Colton T||Tian, Jun||Zimmerman, Matthew C

editor list (cited editors)

  • Fukai, T.

publication date

  • January 2016