Novel water-soluble methanofullerenes C60[C13H18O4(OH)4]6 and C60[C9H10O4(OH)4]6: Promising uncouplers of respiration and phosphorylation.

Here, we report for the first time on two novel water-soluble polyol-methanofullerenes which uncouple respiration and oxidative phosphorylation. A cytofluorimetric JC-1-based ratiometric assay was used to quantify mitochondrial potential Ψm in Yarrowia lipolytica cells exposed to the fullerenes tested. Both methanofullerenes significantly downregulated Ψm, thereby decreasing the subset of cells with high mitochondrial potential compared with intact control cells. The Ψm-low subset of Yarrowia lipolytica cells resulted from methanofullerenes exposure preserved physiological cell size and granularity patterns.