Figure 1.

MCPA inhibits β-oxidation of butyrate to diminish oxygen consumption. (a) Chemical structure of MCPA compared to butyrate. (b) Relative butyrate concentration remaining in media between 0 to 6 h of either 600 μM butyrate or 600 μM butyrate with 1 mM MCPA treatment in T84 cells ((n = 3, error bars: SEM, ns not significant, * p < .05 by 1-way ANOVA, Fisher’s multiple comparison; t = 2.514, df = 4, # p < .1 by unpaired two-tailed student’s t-test). (c) High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tracings of butyrate at 0 h and 6 h for 600 μM butyrate or 600 μM butyrate with 1 mM MCPA treatment in T84 cells. (d) Oxygen saturation of T84 cells treated with 5 mM butyrate with or without 1 mM MCPA over 30 min (n = 3, error bars: SEM, * p < .05 by 1-way ANOVA; One phase decay least squares fit). (e) Rates of oxygen consumption calculated from nonlinear regression of oxygen saturation data in T84 cells treated with 5 mM butyrate with or without 1 mM MCPA (n = 4, error bars: SEM, ns not significant, ** p < .01 by 1-way ANOVA, Fisher’s multiple comparison). (f) Illustration of the mechanism of MCPA to inhibit β-oxidation of butyrate