Abstract #1909

P31 NMR Demonstrates Dysfunction Through Mitochondrial Uncoupling in Skeletal Muscle After Burn Injury

Dionyssios Mintzopoulos¹, Meenu Kesawarni^1,2, Laurence G. Rahme³, Ronald G. Tompkins⁴, A Aria Tzika¹

¹NMR Surgical Laboratory, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ²Molecular Surgery Laboratory, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ³Molecular Surgical Laboratory, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ⁴Surgery, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

We employed in vivo P31 NMR on intact uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) knock-out and wild-type (control) mice, following 30% total burned surface area burn to assess the ATP synthesis rate in skeletal muscle. Our results revealed that the rate of ATP synthesis in UCP3 mice is significantly reduced as compared to controls. These findings implicate mitochondrial uncoupling in skeletal muscle following burn injury.