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. 2023 Sep 22:14:1268075.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1268075. eCollection 2023.

Non-chemical signalling between mitochondria

Rhys R Mould  1 , Ifigeneia Kalampouka  1 , E Louise Thomas  1 , Geoffrey W Guy  2 , Alistair V W Nunn  1   2 , Jimmy D Bell  1
Affiliations

Non-chemical signalling between mitochondria

Rhys R Mould et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

A wide variety of studies have reported some form of non-chemical or non-aqueous communication between physically isolated organisms, eliciting changes in cellular proliferation, morphology, and/or metabolism. The sources and mechanisms of such signalling pathways are still unknown, but have been postulated to involve vibration, volatile transmission, or light through the phenomenon of ultraweak photon emission. Here, we report non-chemical communication between isolated mitochondria from MCF7 (cancer) and MCF10A (non-cancer) cell lines. We found that mitochondria in one cuvette stressed by an electron transport chain inhibitor, antimycin, alters the respiration of mitochondria in an adjacent, but chemically and physically separate cuvette, significantly decreasing the rate of oxygen consumption compared to a control (p = <0.0001 in MCF7 and MCF10A mitochondria). Moreover, the changes in O2-consumption were dependent on the origin of mitochondria (cancer vs. non-cancer) as well as the presence of "ambient" light. Our results support the existence of non-chemical signalling between isolated mitochondria. The experimental design suggests that the non-chemical communication is light-based, although further work is needed to fully elucidate its nature.

Keywords: biophoton; bystander effect; metabolic photon emission; non-chemical signalling; radicals; ultraweak luminescence; ultraweak photon emission.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic of the Non-Chemical Communication Assay experimental setup.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The effect of non-chemical communication on mitochondrial function over time between chemically separate populations of isolated MCF7 mitochondria (A) and MCF10A mitochondria (B). Mitochondrial function assessed by measurement of O2 over time. Data presented as the mean change in oxygen consumption over time (Oxygen Consumption Rate, OCR) as a percentage of the baseline period ±SE. Differences between unshielded and shielded mitochondria analysed via Mixed Linear Effects model, considered significant when p < 0.05. ****: p < 0.0001. n = 12.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Differences in non-chemical communication on mitochondrial function between MCF7 mitochondria and MCF10A mitochondria. Mitochondrial function assessed by measurement of O2 over time. Data presented as the mean change in oxygen consumption over time (Oxygen Consumption Rate, OCR) as a percentage of the baseline period ±SE. Differences between unshielded and shielded mitochondria analysed via Mixed Linear Effects model, considered significant when p < 0.05. ****: p < 0.0001. n = 12.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The effect of non-chemical communication on mitochondrial function over time between chemically separate populations of isolated MCF7 mitochondria (A) and MCF10A mitochondria (B). Mitochondrial function assessed by measurement of O2 over time. Data presented as the mean change in oxygen consumption over time (Oxygen Consumption Rate, OCR) as a percentage of the baseline period ±SE. Differences between unshielded and shielded mitochondria analysed via Mixed Linear Effects model, considered significant when p < 0.05. ****: p < 0.0001. n = 12.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Differences in non-chemical communication on mitochondrial function between MCF7 mitochondria and MCF10A mitochondria in dark conditions. Mitochondrial function assessed by measurement of O2 over time. Data presented as the mean change in oxygen consumption over time (Oxygen Consumption Rate, OCR) as a percentage of the baseline period ±SE. Differences between unshielded and shielded mitochondria analysed via Mixed Linear Effects model, considered significant when p < 0.05. ****: p < 0.0001. n = 12.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Comparing non-chemical communication in dark and light conditions in isolated MCF7 mitochondria (A) and MCF10A mitochondria (B) Mitochondrial function assessed by measurement of O2 over time. Data presented as the mean change in oxygen consumption over time (Oxygen Consumption Rate, OCR) as a percentage of the baseline period ±SE. Differences between unshielded and shielded mitochondria analysed via Mixed Linear Effects model, considered significant when p < 0.05. ****: p < 0.0001 n.s: not significant. n = 12.
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