Mitochondrial dysfunction in Trypanosoma cruzi : the role of Serratia marcescens prodigiosin in the alternative treatment of Chagas disease

Table 1 Effect of prodigiosin, TTFA, and KCN on mitochondrial respiration.

	Oxygen uptake	Oxygen uptake after succinate	Oxygen uptake after duroquinol	Oxygen uptake after TMPD/ascorbate
	nmol O ₂ /min/mg protein	nmol O ₂ /min/mg protein	nmol O ₂ /min/mg protein	nmol O ₂ /min/mg protein
Control	13.88889	___	___	___
Prodigiosin (5 mM)	2.46667	2.46667	6.53333	44.66667
TTFA (5 mM)	2.23333	ND	ND	ND
KCN (5 mM)	6.76722	ND	ND	ND

Oxygen consumption was evaluated in control and treated parasites. In order to determine which complexes of the electron transport chain were involved in the abnormal respiration, we added electron donors for each one of the complexes. The untreated parasites showed a higher oxygen uptake with respect to prodigiosin TTFA- and KCN-treated parasites. However, when electron donors for complex II and III were added the oxygen uptake was increased.