Phosphocreatine (PCr) is an exogenous energy substance, which provides phosphate groups for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) cycle and promotes energy metabolism in cells. However, it is still unclear whether PCr has influenced on mitochondrial energy metabolism as well as oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHO) in previous studies. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the regulation of PCr on lipopolsaccharide (LPS)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and mitochondrial OXPHO pathway. PCr protected HUVECs against LPS-induced apoptosis by suppressing the mitochondrial permeability transition, cytosolic release of cytochrome c (Cyt C), Ca(2+), reactive oxygen species and subsequent activation of caspases, and increasing Bcl2 expression, while suppressing Bax expression. More importantly, PCr significantly improved mitochondrial swelling and membrane potential, enhanced the activities of ATP synthase and mitochondrial creatine kinase (CKmt) in creatine shuttle, influenced on respiratory chain enzymes, respiratory control ratio, phosphorus/oxygen ratio and ATP production of OXPHO. Above PCr-mediated mitochondrial events were effectively more favorable to reduced form of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FADH2) pathway than reduced form of nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotid pathway in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Our results revealed that PCr protects against LPS-induced HUVECs apoptosis, which probably related to stabilization of intracellular energy metabolism, especially for FADH2 pathway in mitochondrial respiratory chain, ATP synthase and CKmt. Our findings suggest that PCr may play a certain role in the treatment of atherosclerosis via protecting endothelial cell function.
Keywords: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells; Lipopolysaccharide; Mitochondrial apoptosis; Oxidative phosphorylation; Phosphocreatine.