Circumventing the Crabtree Effect: A method to induce lactate consumption and increase oxidative phosphorylation in cell culture

Abstract

Most cells grown in glucose-containing medium generate almost all their ATP via glycolysis despite abundant oxygen supply and functional mitochondria, a phenomenon known as the Crabtree effect. By contrast, most cells within the body rely on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to generate the bulk of their energy supply. Thus, when utilising the accessibility of cell culture to elucidate fundamental elements of mitochondria in health and disease, it is advantageous to adopt culture conditions under which the cells have greater reliance upon OXPHOS for the supply of their energy needs. Substituting galactose for glucose in the culture medium can provide these conditions, but addi..