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Published on: April 16, 2018
The effect of 5-aminolevulinic acid on cytochrome c oxidase activity in mouse liver
Shun-Ichiro Ogura1, Kouji Maruyama, Yuichiro Hagiya
1Endowed Research Section (ALA), Frontier Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan. sogura@bio.titech.ac.jp.
Background:
5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a precursor of heme that is fundamentally important in aerobic energy metabolism. Among the enzymes involved in aerobic energy metabolism, cytochrome c oxidase (COX) is crucial. In this study, the effect of ALA on cytochrome c oxidase activity was measured.
Findings:
c57BL/6N species of mice were administered ALA orally for 15 weeks. After ALA administration, mice were sacrificed and livers were obtained. COX activity in mitochondria from ALA-administered mouse livers was 1.5-fold higher than that in mitochondria from PBS-administered mouse livers (P < 0.05). Furthermore, ATP levels in ALA-administered mouse livers were much higher than those in PBS-administered mouse livers. These data suggest that oral administration of ALA promotes aerobic energy metabolism, especially COX activity.
Conclusions:
This is the first report of a drug that functions in aerobic energy metabolism directly. Since COX activity is decreased in various diseases and aging, the pharmacological effects of ALA will be expanding.
