Localization of mitochondrial carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase in sensory neurons from rat dorsal root ganglia

Abstract

The carnitine/acylcarnitine transporter is a transport system whose function is essential for the mitochondrial β-oxidation of fatty acids. Here, the presence of carnitine/acylcarnitine carrier (CACT) in nervous tissue and its sub-cellular localization in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons have been investigated. Western blot analysis using a polyclonal anti-CACT antibody produced in our laboratory revealed the presence of CACT in all the nervous tissue extracts analyzed. Confocal microscopy experiments performed on fixed and permeabilized DRG neurons co-stained with the anti-CACT antibody and the mitochondrial marker MitoTracker Red clearly showed a mitochondrial localization for the carnitine/acylcarnitine transporter. The transport activity of CACT from DRG extracts reconstituted into liposomes was about 50 % in respect to liver extracts. The experimental data here reported represent the first direct evidence of the expression of the carnitine/acylcarnitine transporter in sensory neurons, thus supporting the existence of the β-oxidation pathway in these cells.


Autore Pugliese

Tutti gli autori

  • COLELLA M.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Non Disponibile


Anno di pubblicazione

2013

ISSN

0364-3190

ISBN

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Numero di citazioni Wos

10

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile


Numero di citazioni Scopus

10

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile


Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

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