Evaluation of mitochondrial oxidative toxicity in mammalian cardiomyocytes by determining the highly reproducible and reliable increase in mitochondrial superoxides after exposure to therapeutic drugs

Mitochondria are important cytoplasmic elements present in eukaryotic cells, and are involved in converting energy to ATP through oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondria are vulnerable to reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby making it imperative to evaluate the toxicity. However, existing methods that evaluate mitochondrial toxicity in cardiomyocytes are limited. In the current study, we aimed to determine a mitochondrial biomarker that measures the toxicity of mitochondria, and subsequently suggest an efficient evaluation system for evaluating mitochondrial-specific oxidative toxicity. To achieve this, AC16 human cardiomyocytes, H9C2 rat cardiomyocytes were exposed to acetaminophen (AP), amiodarone hydrochloride (AMD), doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox), valproic acid sodium salt (Val), and (Z)-4-hydroxytamoxifen (4-OHT). Mitochondrial oxidative stress was determined by staining the drug-treated cells with MitoSOX™ red fluorescence dye, followed by imaging with a fluorescence microscope. All working concentrations of Dox showed increased levels of red fluorescence in AC16 and H9C2 cells, whereas exposure to Val did not alter the red fluorescence level of both cells. Considering our results, increased MitoSOX™ subsequent to drug exposure is a highly reproducible and reliable method to measure the mitochondrial-specific oxidative toxicity. These results indicate that a screening system using MitoSOX™ has the potential to be applied as a reliable biomarker for determining mitochondrial oxidative toxicity in new drug development.