Quantitative analysis of the frequency spectrum of the radiation emitted by cytochrome oxidase enzymes.

A physical model is proposed that provides a quantitative analysis of the energy emitted by proton flows through mitochondrial walls. The model developed is based on biochemical and biophysical properties of the enzyme cytochrome oxidase and in particular the embedded heme groups that are involved in the electron ferrying mechanism. The estimates of the energies at approximately 1.1 eV and corresponding wavelengths of the near infrared radiation generated, with a peak close to 900 nm, agree extremely well with experimental values. The basic idea in the mechanism proposed is that the passage of a proton through the mitochondrial wall's gate is linked with the creation of a virtual proton-electron pair in an excited state of a hydrogen atom. The electron is temporarily removed from the enzyme when the proton arrives at the gate and is subsequently deposited back at the enzyme's acceptor site when the proton leaves the gate.