A simple nonequilibrium thermodynamic description of some inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation.

We propose a macroscopic description of some inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation based on a simple modification of the phenomenological coefficients appearing in the constitutive equations of linear irreversible thermodynamics. In this theoretical model, we consider protonophores, some ATPase inactivators and some electron-chain inhibitors, and we provide quantitative expressions for their consequences on the protonmotive force, oxidation flux and phosphorylation flux as well as on heat generation.