Sulforaphane Protects against High Cholesterol-Induced Mitochondrial Bioenergetics Impairments, Inflammation, and Oxidative Stress and Preserves Pancreatic β-Cells Function

Figure 2

SFN increases mitochondrial electron flow in Min6 cells exposed to cholesterol. Min6 cells were incubated with 320 µM of cholesterol and/or 10 µM of SFN or ES and mitochondria were isolated. (a) Electron flow was measured in the form of OCR and expressed as nmol of oxygen consumed/min/mg of protein using the analyzer in mitochondria from control cells (black solid circle) or cells after 6 h treatment with: 320 µM cholesterol (chol) (red solid diamond), 10 µM SFN (blue solid square), 10 µM SFN + 320 µM chol (blue vacant square), 10 µM ES (orange solid triangle), and 10 µM ES + 320 µM chol (orange vacant triangle). (b) Respiration driven by complex I was calculated as from the decrease in OCR after the addition of 2 μM rotenone. (c) Complex II- and (d) IV-driven respiration was calculated as the increase in OCR after the addition of 10 mM succinate or 1 mM AA/10 μM TMPD, respectively. Control cells were not treated with cholesterol. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM, from three independent culture preparations, each treatment performed in quadruplicate. All two-way ANOVAs and Bonferroni posttests. Values with different superscript letters indicate significant differences between groups. AA: ascorbate; Chol: cholesterol; SFN: sulforaphane; ES: 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid; and OCR: oxygen consumption rate.

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