The putative oxidation of hydroethidine (HE) has become a widely used fluorescent assay for the detection of superoxide in cultured cells. By covalently joining HE to a hexyl triphenylphosphonium cation (Mito-HE), the HE moiety can be targeted to mitochondria. However, the specificity of HE and Mito-HE for superoxide in vivo is limited by autooxidation as well as by nonsuperoxide-dependent cellular processes that can oxidize HE probes to ethidium (Etd).

Lipophilic phosphonium cations were first used to investigate mitochondrial biology by Vladimir Skulachev and colleagues in the late 1960s. Since then, these molecules have become important tools for exploring mitochondrial bioenergetics and free radical biology. Here we review why these molecules are useful in mitochondrial research and outline some of the ways in which they are now being utilized.

Mitochondria-targeted molecules comprising the lipophilic TPP (triphenylphosphonium) cation covalently linked to a hydrophobic bioactive moiety are used to modify and probe mitochondria in cells and in vivo. However, it is unclear how hydrophobicity affects the rate and extent of their uptake into mitochondria within cells, making it difficult to interpret experiments because their intracellular concentration in different compartments is uncertain. To address this issue, we compared the uptake into both isolated mitochondria and mitochondria within cells of two hydrophobic TPP derivatives, [3H]MitoQ (mitoquinone) and [3H]DecylTPP, with the more hydrophilic TPP cation [3H]TPMP (methyltriphenylphosphonium). Uptake of MitoQ by mitochondria and cells was described by the Nernst equation and was approximately 5-fold greater than that for TPMP, as a result of its greater binding within the mitochondrial matrix. DecylTPP was also taken up extensively by cells, indicating that increased hydrophobicity enhanced uptake. Both MitoQ and DecylTPP were taken up very rapidly into cells, reaching a steady state within 15 min, compared with approximately 8 h for TPMP. This far faster uptake was the result of the increased rate of passage of hydrophobic TPP molecules through the plasma membrane. Within cells MitoQ was predominantly located within mitochondria, where it was rapidly reduced to the ubiquinol form, consistent with its protective effects in cells and in vivo being due to the ubiquinol antioxidant. The strong influence of hydrophobicity on TPP cation uptake into mitochondria within cells facilitates the rational design of mitochondria-targeted compounds to report on and modify mitochondrial function in vivo.

Lipophilic monocations can pass through phospholipid bilayers and accumulate in negatively-charged compartments such as the mitochondrial matrix, driven by the membrane potential. This property is used to visualize mitochondria, to deliver therapeutic molecules to mitochondria and to measure the membrane potential. In theory, lipophilic dications have a number of advantages over monocations for these tasks, as the double charge should lead to a far greater and more selective uptake by mitochondria, increasing their therapeutic potential. However, the double charge might also limit the movement of lipophilic dications through phospholipid bilayers and little is known about their interaction with mitochondria. To see whether lipophilic dications could be taken up by mitochondria and cells, we made a series of bistriphenylphosphonium cations comprising two triphenylphosphonium moieties linked by a 2-, 4-, 5-, 6- or 10-carbon methylene bridge. The 5-, 6- and 10-carbon dications were taken up by energized mitochondria, whereas the 2- and 4-carbon dications were not. The accumulation of the dication was greater than that of the monocation methyltriphenylphosphonium. However, the uptake of dications was only described by the Nernst equation at low levels of accumulation, and beyond a threshold membrane potential of 90-100 mV there was negligible increase in dication uptake. Interestingly, the 5- and 6-carbon dications were not accumulated by cells, due to lack of permeation through the plasma membrane. These findings indicate that conjugating compounds to dications offers only a minor increase over monocations in delivery to mitochondria. Instead, this suggests that it may be possible to form dications within mitochondria that then remain within the cell.

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Mitochondrial oxidative damage is thought to contribute to a wide range of human diseases; therefore, the development of approaches to decrease this damage may have therapeutic potential. Mitochondria-targeted antioxidants that selectively block mitochondrial oxidative damage and prevent some types of cell death have been developed. These compounds contain antioxidant moieties, such as ubiquinone, tocopherol, or nitroxide, that are targeted to mitochondria by covalent attachment to a lipophilic triphenylphosphonium cation. Because of the large mitochondrial membrane potential, the cations are accumulated within the mitochondria inside cells. There, the conjugated antioxidant moiety protects mitochondria from oxidative damage. Here, we outline some of the work done to date on these compounds and how they may be developed as therapies.

CPPs (cell-penetrating peptides) facilitate the cellular uptake of covalently attached oligonucleotides, proteins and other macromolecules, but the mechanism of their uptake is disputed. Two models are proposed: direct movement through the phospholipid bilayer and endocytic uptake. Mitochondria are a good model system to distinguish between these possibilities, since they have no vesicular transport systems. Furthermore, CPP-mediated delivery of macromolecules to the mitochondrial matrix would be a significant breakthrough in the study of mitochondrial function and dysfunction, and could also lead to new therapies for diseases caused by mitochondrial damage. Therefore we investigated whether two CPPs, penetratin and Tat, could act as mitochondrial delivery vectors. We also determined whether conjugation of the lipophilic cation TPP (triphenylphosphonium) to penetratin or Tat facilitated their uptake into mitochondria, since TPP leads to uptake of attached molecules into mitochondria driven by the membrane potential. Neither penetratin nor Tat, nor their TPP conjugates, are internalized by isolated mitochondria, indicating that these CPPs cannot cross mitochondrial phospholipid bilayers. Tat and TPP-Tat are taken up by cells, but they accumulate in endosomes and do not reach mitochondria. We conclude that CPPs cannot cross mitochondrial phospholipid bilayers, and therefore cannot deliver macromolecules directly to mitochondria. Our findings shed light on the mechanism of uptake of CPPs by cells. The lack of direct movement of CPPs through mitochondrial phospholipid bilayers, along with the observed endosomal accumulation of Tat and TPP-Tat in cells, makes it unlikely that CPPs enter cells by direct membrane passage, and instead favours cellular uptake via an endocytic pathway.

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