Mitochondrial ascorbic acid transport is mediated by a low-affinity form of the sodium-coupled ascorbic acid transporter-2 (SVCT2).

We report here that human HEK-293 cells express a mitochondrial low-affinity ascorbic acid transporter that molecularly corresponds to SVCT2, a member of the sodium-coupled ascorbic acid transporter family 2. The transporter SVCT1 is absent from the HEK-293 cells. Confocal colocalization experiments with anti-SVCT2 and anti-organelle protein markers revealed that most of the SVCT2 immunoreactivity was associated with mitochondria, with minor colocalization at the endoplasmic reticulum and very low immunoreactivity at the plasma membrane. Immunoblotting of proteins extracted from highly purified mitochondrial fractions confirmed that SVCT2 protein was associated with mitochondria, and transport analysis revealed a sigmoidal ascorbic acid-concentration curve with an apparent ascorbic acid transport Km of 0,6mM. Use of SVCT2-siRNA for silencing SVCT2 expression produced a major decrease in mitochondrial SVCT2 immunoreactivity, and immunoblotting revealed decreased SVCT2 protein expression by approximately 75%. Most importantly, the decreased protein expression was accompanied by a concomitant decrease in the mitochondrial ascorbic acid transport rate. Further studies using HEK-293 cells overexpressing SVCT2 at the plasma membrane revealed that the altered kinetic properties of mitochondrial SVCT2 are due to the ionic intracellular microenvironment (low in sodium and high in potassium), with potassium acting as a concentration-dependent inhibitor of SVCT2. We discarded the partic...
Source: Free Radical Biology and Medicine - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: Free Radic Biol Med Source Type: research