Chretien D, Bourgeron T, Rötig A, Munnich A, Rustin P
Unité de Recherches sur les Handicap Génétiques de l'Enfant, INSERM U. 12, Hôpital des Enfants Malades, Paris, France.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1990 Nov 30;173(1):26-33. doi: 10.1016/s0006-291x(05)81016-2.
Mitochondria isolated from minute amounts (100-500 mg) of human skeletal muscle displayed a very high rotenone-resistant NADH cytochrome c reductase activity. Moreover, compared to succinate cytochrome c reductase activity, a low rate of rotenone-sensitive NADH cytochrome c reductase activity was measured when using standard procedures to disrupt mitochondrial membranes. Only a drastic osmotic shock in distillated water as a mean to disrupt mitochondrial membrane was found to strongly increase the actual rate of the rotenone-sensitive activity. This was accompanied by a decrease in the rotenone-insensitive activity. Using such a simple procedure, the NADH cytochrome c reductase was found 70-80% inhibited by rotenone and roughly equivalent to 70-85% of the activity of the succinate cytochrome c reductase.
