Loss of mitochondrial function and accumulation of acidic vesicular organelles under low-temperature incubation in HaCaT cells

摘要

Compared to plants, response to cold stress in animals is regarded as less important; however, inanimals, peripheral tissues like skin are sensitive to cold and induce shivering. In this study, wefocused on the mitochondrial damage resulting from exposure to low temperature using HaCaT cellsas a human epidermal cell model.HaCaT cells were incubated at 4 °C. Mitochondrial membrane potential was observed by amembrane potential indicator dye, JC-1. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected by H_2DCFDAand MitoSOX dyes. Acidic vesicular organelles were stained with acridine orange.After incubating the HaCaT cells at 4 °C, the mitochondrial membrane potential decreased and ROSgeneration increased, leading to cell death. Moreover, accumulation of acidic vesicular organelleswas observed and lysosomes were co-localized to the mitochondria.These data suggest that lysosomes degraded the damaged mitochondria for cell survival in coldstress.