Do mitochondriotropic antioxidants prevent chlorinative stress-induced mitochondrial and cellular injury?

Whiteman, M., Spencer, J. P. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2931-7274, Szeto, H. H. and Armstrong, J. S. (2008) Do mitochondriotropic antioxidants prevent chlorinative stress-induced mitochondrial and cellular injury? Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, 10 (3). pp. 641-650. ISSN 1523-0864 doi: 10.1089/ars.2007.1879

Abstract/Summary

Reactive chlorine species such as hypochlorous acid ( HOCl) are cytotoxic oxidants generated by activated neutrophils at the sites of chronic inflammation. Since mitochondria are key mediators of apoptosis and necrosis, we hypothesized that mitochondriotropic antioxidants could limit HOCl-mediated intracellular oxidative injury to human fetal liver cells, preserve mitochondrial function, and prevent cell death. In this current study, we show that recently developed mitochondria-targeted antioxidants ( MitoQ and SS31) significantly protected against HOCl-induced mitochondrial damage and cell death at concentrations >= 25 nM. Our study highlights the potential application of mitochondria-specific targeted antioxidants for the prevention of cellular dysfunction and cell death under conditions of chlorinative stress, as occurs during chronic inflammation.