Research Paper Volume 5, Issue 11 pp 850—864
Relationships between human vitality and mitochondrial respiratory parameters, reactive oxygen species production and dNTP levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells
- 1 Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- 2 Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- 3 Danish Aging Research Center, Universities of Aarhus, Southern Denmark and Copenhagen, Denmark
- 4 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- 5 Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1014 Copenhagen K, Denmark
- 6 Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224-6825, USA
- 7 Research Centre for prevention and Health, Glostrup University Hospital, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark
- 8 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Received: September 25, 2013 Accepted: November 20, 2013 Published: November 30, 2013
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100618How to Cite
Abstract
Low vitality (a component of fatigue) in middle-aged and older adults is an important complaint often identified as a symptom of a disease state or side effect of a treatment. No studies to date have investigated the potential link between dysfunctional mitochondrial ATP production and low vitality. Therefore, we measured a number of cellular parameters related to mitochondrial activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from middle-aged men, and tested for association with vitality. These parameters estimate mitochondrial respiration, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and deoxyribonucleotide (dNTP) balance in PBMCs. The population was drawn from the Metropolit cohort of men born in 1953. Vitality level was estimated from the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) vitality scale. We found that vitality score had no association with any of the mitochondrial respiration parameters. However, vitality score was inversely associated with cellular ROS production and cellular deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP) levels and positively associated with deoxycytidine triphosphate (dCTP) levels. We conclude that self-reported persistent low vitality is not associated with specific aspects of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation capacity in PBMCs, but may have other underlying cellular dysfunctions that contribute to dNTP imbalance and altered ROS production.
Abbreviations
PBMCs: peripheral blood mononuclear cells; dNTP: deoxyribonucleotide; SF-36: Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36; CAMB: Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank; OCR: oxygen consumption rate; ECAR: extracellular acidification rate; ROS: reactive oxygen species.