Murburn concept explains the acutely lethal effect of cyanide

Kelath Murali Manoj, Surjith Ramasamy, Abhinav Parashar, Vidhu Soman, Kannan Pakshirajan
2019 · doi:10.1101/555888
preprint OA: closed
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Abstract

Cyanide (CN) toxicity is traditionally understood to result from its binding of hemeFe centers, thereby disrupting mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase function and oxygen utilization by other globin proteins. Recently, a diffusible reactive oxygen species (DROS) mediated reaction mechanism called murburn concept was proposed to explain mitochondrial ATP-synthesis and heat generation. Per this purview, it was theorized that CN ion-radical equilibrium dissipates the catalytically vital DROS into futile cycles, producing water. In the current study, a comparative quantitative assessment of the above two explanations is made for: (i) lethal dosage or concentrations of CN, (ii) thermodynamics and kinetics of the binding/reaction, and (iii) correlation of CN with the binding data and reaction chemistry of H 2 S/CO. The quantitative findings suggest that the hemeFe binding-based toxicity explanation is untenable. CN also inhibited the experimental in vitro DROS-mediated coupling of inorganic phosphate with ADP. Further, pH-dependent inhibition profiles of heme enzyme catalyzed oxidation of a phenolic (wherein an -OH group reacts with DROS to form water, quite akin to the murburn model of ATP synthesis) indicated that- (i) multiple competitive reactions in milieu controlled outcomes and (ii) low concentrations of CN cannot disrupt activity via a coordination (binding) of cyanide at the distal hemeFe. Therefore, the μM-level IC 50 and the acutely lethal effect of CN on cellular respiration could be explained by the deleterious interaction of CN ion-radical equilibrium with DROS in matrix, disrupting mitochondrial ATP synthesis. This work supports the murburn explanation for cellular respiration.

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