Hepatocytes can switch their metabolic processes in response to nutrient availability. However, the dynamics of metabolites (such as lactate, pyruvate, and ATP) in hepatocytes during the metabolic switch remain unknown. In this study, we visualized metabolite dynamics in primary cultured hepatocytes during recovery from glucose-deprivation. We observed a decrease in the mitochondrial ATP concentration when glucose was administered to hepatocytes under glucose-deprivation conditions. In contrast, there was slight change in the cytoplasmic ATP concentration. A decrease in mitochondrial ATP concentration was associated with increased protein synthesis rather than glycogen synthesis, activation of urea cycle, and production of reactive oxygen species. These results suggest that mitochondrial ATP is important in switching metabolic processes in the hepatocytes.
Keywords: ATP; glucose-deprivation; hepatocyte; live-cell imaging; mitochondria.
© 2023 The Authors. FEBS Open Bio published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Biochemical Societies.