Mitochondria are at the core of cellular energy metabolism and are also involved in the oxidative stress response and programmed cell death pathways. Mitochondrial dysfunction is found to be associated with many disease conditions like metabolic syndrome, neurodegenerative disorders, coronary artery diseases, cancer, etc. This has generated considerable interest in the scientific community over the assessment of mitochondrial function and mitochondrial damage. One of the most common methodologies in these studies is by analysing the mitochondrial activity in the presence of mitochondrial substrates, inhibitors and uncouplers. Apart from the specific effects of these molecules on mitochondria, their interactions with the components of the experimental system could interfere with the results derived. Therefore, the role some specific experimental conditions would have on the outcome should be carefully elucidated. Fetal Bovine Serum or Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA); routinely used in in vitro experiments for their growth promoting and surfactant properties; can have profound impact on the pharmacokinetics of chemical compounds as albumin residue can bind to and affect their bioavailability. In the present study, we demonstrate that Carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) induced mitochondrial depolarization is hindered in the presence of albumin due to the molecular interaction between CCCP and albumin.
Keywords: Albumin; BSA; CCCP; Mitochondrial depolarization; Serum.
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