Monodehydroascorbate as an electron acceptor for NADH reduction by coated vesicle and Golgi apparatus fractions of rat liver.

Coated vesicles were isolated from rat liver in about 80% fraction purity as determined from electron microscopy and analyses of marker enzymes and compared with Golgi apparatus and other membrane fractions isolated in parallel. The fractions were enriched in NADH-monodehydroascorbate reductase, ascorbate oxidase and ascorbic acid. The NADH-monodehydroascorbate reductase and ascorbate oxidase of the Golgi apparatus and coated vesicles differed from that of the endoplasmic reticulum in being inhibited by the sodium selective ionophore, monensin, at physiological concentrations while these activities were stimulated by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid in coated vesicles but not in Golgi apparatus. Activities of both coated vesicles and Golgi apparatus fractions depleted in the coat protein, clathrin, were activated by the addition of clathrin-rich supernatant fractions. The results are discussed in the context of monodehydroascorbate as an acceptor for electron transport-mediated transfer of electrons from NADH by coated vesicles as part of a possible mechanism to drive membrane translocations or to acidify the interiors of vesicles.