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Updated: Sep 3, 2026

Isolation and Functional Analysis of Mitochondria from Cultured Cells and Mouse Tissue
Published on: March 23, 2015
Mitochondria hyperpolarization is an early event in oxidized low-density lipoprotein-induced apoptosis in Caco-2
Claudio Giovannini1, Paola Matarrese, Beatrice Scazzocchio
1Department of Metabolism and Biochemical Pathology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. clagiovn@iss.it
Abstract:
We investigated the mechanisms underlying the pro-apoptotic activity exerted by oxidized low-density lipoproteins (oxLDL) in Caco-2 intestinal cells, a cell line which retains many morphological and enzymatic features typical of normal human enterocytes. We found that: (i) oxLDL induced mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis by provoking first an increase in mitochondrial membrane potential, followed, later, by the typical apoptosis-associated depolarization (type II apoptosis); accordingly, (ii) caspase-9 inhibition significantly hindered apoptosis while caspase-8 inhibition did not; and finally (iii) dietary phenolic antioxidizing compounds exerted a significant protective antiapoptotic activity. These results point to mitochondrial hyperpolarization as 'sensitizing feature' in apoptotic proneness of Caco-2 intestinal cells to oxLDL exposure.
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