[Changes in mitochondrial function in the cells and cytoplasts of a pig embryo kidney culture as affected by the action of actinomycin D].

Vital staining of PE kidney cells by fluorescent cationic dye, ethyl rhodamine, (accumulated inside mitochondria by the membrane potential and hence reflecting their functional state) shows rather close level of the fluorescence intensity both in cells and in their cytoplasts for 10 hours of culture survival in the standard medium. In cells and cytoplasts cultivated in the medium with 0.2 mg/ml of actinomycin D inhibiting RNA synthesis, fluorescence intensity of mitochondria sharply decreases after 10 hours as against the control patterns. It is concluded that mitochondria possess a significant degree of autonomy of the nucleus and it is supposed that a considerable part of mitochondrial RNA is under the nucleus control.