The behaviour of liver mitochondria isolated from rats with different body temperatures after limb ischaemia or after injection of 3:5-dinitro-ocresol

Oxidative phosphorylation. The specific binding of trimethyltin and triethyltin to rat liver mitochondria

1. The binding of trimethyltin and triethyltin to rat liver mitochondria was determined and the results were analysed by the method of Scatchard (1949). 2. One binding site (site 1) has the correct characteristics for the site to which trimethyltin and triethyltin are attached when they inhibit oxidative phosphorylation. For each compound the concentration of site 1 is 0.8nmol/mg of protein and the ratios of their affinity constants are the same as the ratio of the concentrations inhibiting oxidative phosphorylation. 3. Binding site 1 is present in a fraction derived from mitochondria containing only 15% of the original protein. In this preparation ultrasonication rapidly destroyed site 1. 4. Dimethyltin and diethyltin do not prevent binding of triethyltin to rat liver mitochondria, whereas triethyl-lead does. 5. Trimethyltin and triethyltin bind to mitochondria from brown adipose tissue and the results indicate a binding site 1 similar to that in rat liver mitochondria. 6. The advantages and limitations of this approach to the study of inhibitors are discussed.

Properties of substituted 2-trifluoromethylbenzimidazoles as uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation

1. The activity of 25 substituted 2-trifluoromethylbenzimidazoles in uncoupling oxidative phosphorylation by rat-liver mitochondria has been compared. 2. For halogen- or mixed-halogen- and alkyl-substituted analogues, uncoupling activity was proportional to the acidity of the imidazole -NH group. Tetrachloro-2-trifluoromethylbenzimidazole was the most active (50% uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation at 7.9x10(-8)m, pK5.04). Nitro-substituted analogues were less active than predicted from pK considerations or from partition-coefficient measurements. 3. Introduction of an -NH(2) or -CO(2)H substitutent caused a loss of uncoupling activity, as did alkylation at position 1 of the imidazole ring. 4. Benzimidazoles active as uncouplers stimulated mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase but not all stimulated the oxidation of succinate in the absence of a phosphate acceptor. 5. 4,5-Dichloro-2-trifluoromethylbenzimidazole inhibited the succinate-oxidase system at about the same concentration required for uncoupling (0.52mum for 50% inhibition of both activities) and the site of this inhibition appears to lie between succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome b.

The inhibition of enzymes by beryllium

1. The action of beryllium on the following enzymes has been examined: alkaline phosphatase (Escherichia coli and kidney), acid phosphatase, phosphoprotein phosphatase, apyrase (potato), adenosine triphosphatase (liver nuclei, liver mitochondria, brain microsomes), glucose 6-phosphatase, polysaccharide phosphorylases a and b, phosphoglucomutase, hexokinase, phosphoglyceromutase, ribonuclease, A-esterase (rabbit serum), cholinesterase (horse serum), chymotrypsin. Alkaline phosphatase and phosphoglucomutase are inhibited by 1mum-beryllium sulphate whereas the other enzymes are largely unaffected by 1mm-beryllium sulphate. 2. Possible mechanisms for the inhibition of phosphoglucomutase and alkaline phosphatase are discussed.

Uncouplers of rat-liver mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation

1. The ability of a series of compounds to uncouple oxidative phosphorylation of rat-liver mitochondria has been investigated. 2. The compounds were: 2-amino-1,1,3-tricyanopropene; carbonyl cyanide phenylhydrazone and its m-chloro and p-trifluoromethoxy derivatives; 4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-, 5-chloro-4-nitro-, 5-nitro-and 4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-1-methyl-benzotriazole; 4-hydroxy-3,5-di-iodo-, 3,5-di-bromo-4-hydroxy- and 3,5-dichloro-4-hydroxy-benzonitrile; and pentafluorophenol. 3. In a medium the components and physical condition of which were, as far as possible, kept constant, each compound was tested for ability to stimulate adenosine triphosphatase, to stimulate respiration in the presence of pyruvate as substrate, to inhibit phosphate uptake and to prevent swelling by trimethyltin. 4. Each compound was also examined with respect to its ability to produce rapid rigor mortis in mice. 5. The biological properties were compared with the dissociation constant and the hexane-water partition coefficient for each compound. 6. With the exception of 4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-1-methylbenzotriazole, all the compounds behaved qualitatively as 2,4-dinitrophenol. 7. Within each class of compound there is a relation between biological activity and the physical attributes measured. 8. The most efficient uncouplers were the most acidic and the most hydrophobic.

Ultrastructural changes in hemorrhagic shock. Electron microscopic study of liver, kidney and striated muscle cells in rats

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TOXICOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON SOME TRIALKYLGERMANIUM COMPOUNDS

The toxicity of triethyl-and tri-n-butyl-germanium acetates has been studied after their administration to rats. Both compounds had a low toxicity. Triethylgermanium had less than one-tenth of the toxicity of triethyltin or triethyl-lead and, unlike them, it did not appear to have a predominant action on the central nervous system. In biochemical studies in vitro, tri-n-butylgermanium was found to be more active than trimethyl-, triethyl- or tri-n-propyl-germanium in inhibiting both glucose oxidation by slices of rat brain cortex and processes involved in oxidative phosphorylation by rat liver mitochondria. All the germanium compounds tested had less than one-hundredth the activity of the corresponding trialkyltin and trialkyl-lead compounds.