Zika Virus perturbs mitochondrial morphodynamics in human retinal pigment epithelium cells

RUSSO CA; TORTI MF; SEPULVEDA CS; GARCIA CC; ALAIMO A

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Simposio; Exploring the Frontiers of Chemistry: Challenges for the 21st Century; 2019

Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (FCEN), University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the Ben-Gurion of the Negev University (Israel)

Introduction: Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family mostly transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Currently, there is no specific medicine or vaccine for ZIKV. A number of more serious symptoms have become associated with ZIKV infection. Notably, ocular complications due to ZIKV infection remains a major public health concern because of their ability to cause visual impairment or blindness. Most of the previous studies have shown ZIKV-induced ocular pathology in the posterior segment (i.e., retina) of the eye. The human retinal pigment epithelium cells (RPE), the supporting tissue of the retina, consists of a monolayer of epithelial cells that contributes to the retinal-blood barrier. The permissiveness of the RPE to viral infections makes it a pertinent tissue to study host-cell interactions Mitochondria form a network distributed through the cell. These are dynamics organelles that constantly change their morphology, length and movement along cytoskeleton. Fusion and fission are the two key events responsible for the maintenance of a proper number of functional mitochondria. An imbalance between both processes led to many pathophysiological outcomes. Objective: In the present study, we study the mitochondria dynamics and membrane potential (Δφm) in human RPE (ATCC ® CRL-2302 ?) cells infected with ZIKV virus strains from Puerto Rico (ZIKV-PR) or Argentina (ZIKV-AR). Methodology: ARPE-19 cells were infected with both ZIKV strains for 24 hours. Mitotracker Red CMXRos, a red-fluorescent probe that stains mitochondria in live cells and its accumulation is dependent upon membrane potential (Δφm). Results: ZIKV-PR reduced the population of cells with tubular mitochondria (34%; p